Orphan Yugi
by YugiYamiforever
Summary: REDONEIn order for Yami to rebuild his reputation with the public, He lets an orphan live with him for a month. Can little Yugi crack through Yami’s tough shell? Can Yami teach Yugi to trust in people again, or will Yugi be forever untrusting of peop
1. Yamimeet Yugi

Disclaimer: Same as usual, I don't own Yugi or any of the characters.

Bakura and Marik are not evil. Yami is very self-centered in this fic, in the beginning he only thinks of himself.

(AN) author notes

'Thoughts'

:::::flash backs

This story is being revised, tell me if you think the changes are better or worse

Summary: In order for Yami to rebuild his reputation with the public he lets an orphan live with him for a month. Can little Yugi crack through Yami's tough shell or will Yugi end up getting hurt again?

Orphan Yugi

Chapter 1

Yami...meet Yugi

Yami grumbled as he made his way home from work. He really had a bad day and was going to blow up at the next person who so much as looked to him the wrong way.

Yami was an average height male with tri-colored hair. His hair was black with magenta colored tips and had blonde bangs that stood out like lightining bolts. He was a really selfish person who didn't care about anyone but himself and his two closest friends.

The first was Bakura. He had snow white hair and brown eyes. He could be a smart alec at times but he usually meant no harm. He looked and acted tough, but when he was around his friends, he showed a completely different side of himself.

Next came Marik. He had blond hair and dark tanned skin. He was just like Bakura, which is why the three of them got along so well. They were too much alike at times and fought a lot, but they never stayed mad at each other for long. They were too good of friends for that.

:::::::::::::::::::::flash back

"Yami?" Bakura said.

Yami glared at him "WHAT!!?" he yelled.

The yell didn't even phase Bakura, he had known Yami for years now and was used to his temper. He knew that Yami had a very bad day at work and wasn't going to like the idea that the partners had, but he decided it would be best if Yami heard it from him and not the stuffy businessman who worked on the council.

"With all the bad publicity your company is getting the business partners thought of a way for you to get back in the public's good graces." Bakura replied.

(AN: Yami, Bakura and Marik had a hard time staying out of trouble, they all had really bad tempers, and the business partners and the public is a little leery about doing business with them.)

"Yeah, and what great brainstorm have they come up with this time?" Yami asked, annoyed

"The last stupid idea they had got the public to hate us even more. Remember? They wanted us to host a nice and quiet party, and what happened? Party crashers showed up and destroyed the entire house. I had every right to get angry."

"I admit, that one was not our fault" Started Bakura "But this is an even better idea and it only involves one other person."

"Okay, you have my interest. What is their latest idea?" Yami questioned, almost afraid to ask.

"They want you to take in an orphan for a month and let them live with you." Bakura said while he cringed while waiting for Yami's response.

"THEY WANT ME TO WHAT" Yami yelled. "I DON'T LIKE KIDS."

'Yeah with your personality I wonder why' Bakura thought, then out loud he replied. "They think it would help your image and I agree with them. Come on, it will be good for you and its only for a month."

"Who picks out the brat?" Yami questioned.

"A kid not a brat, and I guess you could." Bakura thought about it "or if you don't want to, Marik or I could."

"Fine, if some kid," Yami sneered ",is going to stay with me I would rather pick them out myself."

"You make it sound like your going to the pound to get a stray animal," Bakura replied a little annoyed "You want Marik or me to go with?"

"No, I can do this alone" Yami stated "Thanks anyway." Yami, like his friends, showed a completely different side when he was around his friends and didn't care how he acted or treated anyone he didn't know.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::End flash back

Yami's POV

'I can't believe I have to deal with a snot nosed brat for a whole month' I thought 'This is going to be a long month.'

I drove to the local orphanage to pick out a kid to stay with me. 'I can't believe I am actually going through with this.' I thought. As I pulled up, I could tell from the outside of the building that it was really old. It looked run down and in bad need of repair. But I didn't care. I didn't even stop to think that there were kids inside, to me, they were just another burden on society. Needing help from others just to take care of themselves. I entered through the dirty and cracked glass doors and was greeted by an elderly lady who looked like she had no sense of humor at all.

"Yea, what do you want?" she sneered.

"My name is Yami Moto and I am looking for a kid to stay with me." I cringed while saying this.

"Oh, I've heard of you, I've seen your picture in the paper a few days ago" Mrs. McGuire said "Okay follow me."

She got off her stool and led me down a dimly lit hallway to where the children's rooms were. I felt slightly bad for the children that lived here but it didn't last very long. I looked into the rooms that we were passing and, in every single one, saw the same sad and hopeless expression on each childs' face. I wondered briefly on what must be going through these kids heads as they watch, day after day, people looking at them like they were window shopping only to turn and walk the other away. Mrs. McGuire finally stopped at a room that had three children in it. As I looked in, I saw that two of the kids were fighting and one was sitting in the corner staring out the window.

The one by the window caught my eye, 'Wow, that kid looks just like me.'

I came out of my thoughts as the woman began to speak to the children.

"Okay now everyone" Mrs. McGuire said trying to get their attention "Stop fighting and come here please, this man would like to speak to you."

"Hai." The two boys immediately stopped fighting, and the boy with the white hair went to stand by Mrs. McGuire, while I noticed a boy with blond hair walk over to my look-a-like and tap him on the shoulder. He made some kind of gesture to the small boy, which I didn't really think much of at the time, and then he led him to stand in line with the other one.

"Now" Mrs. McGuire said turning to me"This one is Ryou"

Mrs. McGuire explained pointing to the white haired boy with brown eyes. 'He looks just like Bakura.'

"Hello." Ryou said.

"This one" Mrs. McGuire said pointing to the boy in the middle "is Malik."

'Wow, this is getting creepy,' I thought, 'The first one looked like Bakura and now this one looks like Marik. This definetly getting very weird.'

"Hello." the boy replied in a defensive tone and I could tell that he was very protective of the smaller two in the room.

"And last but not least" Mrs. McGuire said pointing to the one who looked like me "is Yugi."

Yugi just stared at me and I was captivated by his eyes. 'I have never seen eyes like that before, they were sparkling amethyst.'

When our eyes met, Yugi quickly lowered his head and looked at the ground trying to hide behind Malik.

This one intrigued me. 'Why do I feel like I know him when we just met now.' I wondered.

"I'll give you a few minutes to get to know the boys," she replied, breaking my thoughts, "I'll come by later and see if you have decided yet."

When she left, there was an uneasy silence that settled upon the room. Wanting to get to know the small boy better, I slowly walked up to him and I saw Malik tense up as I approached the small boy. When I kneeled in front of Yugi, I noticed sadly that he wouldn't look up at me, he just kept inching closer to Malik while keeping his gaze on the floor.

"Hello Yugi," I said quietly, then I changed to a more playful voice, "Don't you want to talk to me?"

When Yugi still didn't respond, I looked over at Ryou and Malik curiously. Malik wrapped his arms protectively around Yugi, who tensed briefly at the contact, and was about to say something but then Mrs. McGuire walked back into the room.

"So, Mr Yami did you find what you were looking for, or do you want to check out the other rooms?" Mrs. McGuire asked.

I thought for a minute. 'Why didn't he answer or respond to me? I really want to get to know him better.' Then I said out loud "I'll take little Yugi." As I answered, I noticed Malik and Ryou were both looking at Yugi, Malik had his fists clentch together and Ryou looked worried as he tapped Yugi on the shoulder. When he finally looked up, Ryou quietly told him what was going on. I wondered briefly why it had to be explained to the small boy, but I brushed it off just as quickly.

I left the small room and followed the elderly lady back down the dim hallways and back to her office. When they reached the office, Mrs. McGuire closed the door and turned around to face me with a sad expression on her face.

"Yami, before I give you the papers to sign, there is something I must explain to you first that's really important." Mrs. McGuire paused for a second before continuing "Yugi came here a couple of years ago and his was one of the worst cases of child abuse I have ever seen or heard of, " Mrs. McGuire stopped unsure how to continue.

'Child abuse? That's why Malik was so defensive when I approached Yugi, he must have thought that I was going to hurt him.' I was interrupted from my thought when Mrs. McGuire started to speak again.

"Yugi has not spoken a word since he arrived here, and I must warn you that he needs lots of attention, so if your not willing to make a commitment this large, I will please ask you to choose another child. I am afraid that if you go in halfheartedly, it will completely break his trust in people and it might ruin his chances for recovery, even though we are not even sure if he will ever recover. It's still too soon to tell." Mrs. McGuire explained. "So I will ask you again. Are you willing to make this large of a commitment."

I thought for a minute 'I am only taking him for a month, I don't know if I am ready for a commitment of this magnitude. Especially since I am only doing this to get back in the public's good graces. But then again, because he is a special case, it might help my chances even better.'

I only thought of using the boy for my own purposes, once I was in good graces with the public again I could just drop the kid off at an orphanage and get on with my life.

"Yeah, sure. I'll take care of him." I said.

She looked at me questionably. 'He really doesn't know what he is getting into.' Mrs. McGuire thought 'I have a bad feeling that this could seriously hurt Yugi's chances of recovery since I really don't trust this man.'

I could see that she was debating on whether or not to let Yugi come with me. 'Is his case really that serious? Maybe I should reconsider my choice,' I thought, then i started to get annoyed, 'Great now she has me questioning myself.'

"Your positive you can handle this?" Mrs. McGuire asked again. I nodded at her.

"Okay, let me ask you another question. How long are you thinking here? I mean, adoption or are you just going to give up on him after a couple of months? I am only asking to find out what is in the childs best interest. He has been hurt so many times that I'm afraid the next time it happens he will completely shut himself down and refuse to ever allow anyone to get close to him again. It took years for him to finally make some friends and for that reason, they are extremely overprotective of him"

"Well" I said. 'How do I tell her. It is only for a month. Just long enough for the public to like me again. I could lie to her and when the month is up just bring him to a different orphanage that way his friends will never know.' I smiled to myself. 'Yeah, that's what I will do. Perfect.'

"I am thinking of possible adoption. I mean my house is kind of too big for just one person, it would be nice to have some company, it just seems to quiet sometimes." I replied.

Mrs. McGuire looked very doubtful about my answer. 'He's hiding something. I don't trust him at all.'

"Okay, if your sure." Mrs. McGuire started "I just need you to fill out this paperwork, then you can be on your way. Oh, one more thing. Just so you know, Yugi is completely deaf. His father and mother beat him on a regular basis sending him to the hospital many times. One night, they hit him in the head with a metal baseball bat and Yugi spent the next few months in the hospital in a coma. When he finally woke up he was completely deaf and had a mild concussion. He has not spoken a word to anyone since then and the doctors are not even sure if he can talk at all. They're not sure if the blow he took to his head might have damaged the part of his brain where speech is or if it impaired his mental abilities. He can lipread so he can understand you. Just make sure you don't talk to fast, but don't talk to him like he's an infant either, just talk normally and I'm sure it will be fine." Mrs. McGuire explained before she left the room to get the appropriate paperwork.

'That's why that Ryou boy had to explain things to Yugi. I get it now.' I thought.

She reentered the room and handed me a stack of papers, and after what felt like hours, I finally finished the stack of paperwork and handed it back to her. She looked it over to make sure nothing was missing, and that it was all in order. She nodded her head and put the paperwork into Yugi's already large folder. Thinking we were finished, I stood up and headed toward the door. Just as I put my hand on the doorknob, she stopped me.

"Just one more thing, please, if you have any questions or if anything good or bad happens. Please call me. I would like to know how he is getting along. I just want to make sure that he is happy." Mrs. McGuire stated.

I nodded to her. Then she stood up and replied, "Just wait here Mr. Yami. I will be right back with Yugi."

I sat back down and waited patiently for Mrs. McGuire to return with the small boy so I could take him home, but I couldn't help my mind from wandering off. 'Am I really doing the right thing? I mean I could be seriously messing with this poor kids mind just for my own personal gain. Maybe I should have just picked someone else, someone strong enough to be able to put this behind them and continue on with their lives. He intrigues me though, and I really want to get to know him better. After what I just heard I can understand his friends need to protect him.'

I was pulled from my thoughts when I noticed Mrs. McGuire return with the small boy. I watched them quietly enter the room and noticed how frightened Yugi looked as he hid behind the woman with his eyes on the ground. I could tell he was shy and scared by his posture.

Mrs. McGuire gently brought Yugi in front of her and put her hand on his shoulder, her other hand gently bring his chin up until she was looking directly into his eyes. He quickly darted his eyes off to the side and continued to keep his head down. She then brought two fingers in the direction his eyes were looking until he saw them, then she moved her fingers towards her eyes. His eyes followed her fingers until they were eye to eye again, only this time he didn't look away.

"Yugi," She said gently "This is Yami."

She pointed to me then, while still maintaining eye contact with Yugi, she turned to me and said,"Yami, this is Yugi."

Yugi stared into my eyes for a minute before quickly lowering them to the ground again. Mrs. McGuire sighed and guided Yugi to a vacant seat and gently pushed down on his shoulders until he was sitting. Yugi kept his eyes on the ground the entire time, and just let her guide him.

She motioned for me to follow her back into her office, once inside, she shut the door again and then she looked over at me. "Did you see what I did with my hand a minute ago?" She questioned. I nodded at her and she continued, "If you want him to look at you, so you can talk to him and he looks away, for some reason that is the only way to get him to do it. I don't know how or why it works, but it's a method people used with Autistic children and it seems to work well with Yugi as well. His parents drilled it into him at a young age that if he looked at them then he was severely punished and, as a result of that, he is afraid to look anyone in the eye. Hopefully, with time, he will understand that he will not be punished for looking at anyone."

I nodded again as I listened. I wanted to remember everything she told me so I could communicate better with Yugi. I don't know why, but I was beginning to feel something for this boy and I felt a stong need to protect him from harm. I shook my head and quickly dismissed the thought, 'I don't need anyone, I'm perfectly happy with my life the way that it is.'

I noticed Mrs. McGuire left her office and I followed her as she went to Yugi, she kneeled down in front of him and gently put her hand on his knee to get his attention. He raised his head to look at her and noticed that he had a questioning look in his eyes.

"Yugi, Mr. Yami here is going to take you to his house now. You're going to stay with him. Is that okay with you?"

At first, Yugi looked unsure, then he looked back and forth between the two of us. After a few minutes, he slowly nodded to show that it was alright.

"Okay Yugi" I said "Come on, I'll take you home now."

Yugi didn't say anything, he just rose from his seat and followed behind me. I led the way down the dim hallway back to the exit where my car was parked. On the way back we were stopped by his friends, as we passed his old room, who just wanted to say good-bye.

The boy name Ryou came up first. He put his arms around Yugi in a good-bye hug. Even though they were friends, I saw Yugi tense up at the contact.

"Ja ne Yugi." Ryou said

"Ja ne Yugi." Malik said while eying me suspiciously.

Yugi looked to the ground after the good-bys and nodded to his friends. I put my hand on Yugi's shoulder signaling it was time to go. I felt Yugi tense up again but he followed me. We went outside to where my car was parked and I walked up and opened the door for him. He gave me a questioning look and when I smiled, he quickly looked to the ground again. 'This definitely is not going to be easy.' I thought.

The ride home was very quiet. I kept glancing at Yugi, but his eyes stared at the floor and he didn't even want to look out the window. When I pulled the car into the driveway, I saw that Bakura and Marik were outside waiting for me. I parked in the garage and got out of the car, I walked around just as Yugi was getting out himself. Once again he fell into step right behind me as I approached my friends.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I asked. I noticed them both look behind me to look at Yugi. They both raised their eyebrows when they saw the resemblance between Yugi and I.

"Guys" I said "this is Yugi."

Then I turned to Yugi who still had his gaze on the ground. I lifted his chin so he would look at me but, as soon as he caught my eye, he quickly shifted his eyes and looked away. I did what Mrs. McGuire showed me and was mildly surprised that it worked the first time. When I knew that I had his attention, I finished the introductions

"Yugi, these are my friends" I started "this is Bakura and this is Marik." As I said their names I pointed them out to Yugi. He stared at them for a minute with his eyes wide, 'If I didn't know better, I would've sworn that Ryou and Malik were here with me.' Yugi thought, not able to look away, then when he noticed he was staring he quickly went back to staring at the ground again. I sighed as I could feel Bakura and Marik watching me. So I glanced at them, they still had their eyebrows raised in a questioning manner.

"Come on in guys, let's go inside and I will explain everything." I went into the house with Yugi walking right behind me as usual and Bakura and Marik followed behind him.

"Bakura, Marik can you guys wait down here for a second? I'm going to show Yugi to his room." I asked.

Both of them nodded and waited for me in the living room. I turned and walked toward to stairs, glancing behind me to make sure Yugi was still here, and sure enough he was right behind me. I walked up the stairs and stopped at the first door on the right. I turned around to face him and noticed that he was still looking at the ground. I gently tapped his shoulder and when he looked up at me, I pointed to the first door.

"This is the bathroom, the next door on the right is your room, the one across the hall is mine."

Yugi nodded but didn't say anything, not that I really expected him to, "Do you want to see your room or do you want to go back downstairs with me?" I asked.

Yugi thought for a minute and I could tell he looked unsure on how to answer, like it was the first time he ever had to make a decision on his own. I waited patiently for him and I could tell that he was starting to get nervous under my gaze because he started to shift on his feet and fidget with his hands. I gently placed my hand on his shoulder, and he look up briefly, but as usual when our eyes locked he quickly darted in another direction. I moved my two fingers until they were in his line of sight then slowly moved them towards my eyes. His eyes followed my fingers until he was looking directly at me once again.

"Do you want to come back downstairs with me?" I asked again.

Yugi lowered his eyes to the ground and very slightly nodded. I sighed again as I headed back downstairs with Yugi following right behind me. I reached the bottom I heard my friends voices coming from the living room, but before I went in I turned back to Yugi. I tapped his shoulder and asked if he was hungry. He nodded again so I went into the kitchen. After making him a quick lunch I left him at the table and joined my friends.

As I walked in the living room, both of them were giving me questioning looks. I sighed and sat down in the chair.

"Well?" They said together.

"Well What?" I tried to make it sound like I didn't know what they were talking about.

"What's with look-a-like?" Marik asked.

So I told them everything Mrs. McGuire told me about Yugi and his life before the orphanage. They were both stunned.

"Yami" Bakura said unsure on whether or not to continue "If this is only going to be staying here for a month, why did you pick someone like him? I really think you should of picked some other kid, I mean its not very nice what your going to do to this poor kid."

"Yeah, Yami I agree with Bakura for once on this one, I mean look at the way the kid follows you everywhere you go. It could permanently damage him and for what? Your stupid reputation?"

"Look guys, I may have felt that way at first, but for some strange reason when I first met Yugi I felt like I wanted to know everything about him." I explained. "I don't understand it myself but I felt myself drawn to him , I just can't explain it."

"So, your really thinking of adopting this kid? I knew you had a heart in there somewhere." Bakura laughed.

"You both should have come with man. There was this kid named Ryou, he looked just like you, Bakura. And their was another that could pass for your twin also Marik" I stated.

Bakura and Marik paled slightly, "Looked just like me? You mean like the kid looks like you?"

"Yeah, and 'the kid' has a name ya know, its Yugi so please stop calling him that. The one that looked like you, Bakura, was quiet and shy like Yugi. The one that looks like you, Marik, seemed to be the protector for the smaller two. You should have seen the look he gave me when I walked over to talk to Yugi."

"What" Bakura was about to ask another question but he stopped when he noticed someone standing by the door. I was about to ask if Bakura was okay until I followed his gaze. There standing in the doorway was Yugi, he looked unsure on wether or not to enter the room. I got up off my seat and walked over to him. Yugi quickly looked to the ground like he had done something wrong. I got Yugi to look at me using the method I learned from Mrs. McGuire.

When Yugi was looking at me, I asked "Do you want to watch some TV with us?"

Yugi looked down again, but nodded. I led him into the room and over to the couch. At first Yugi just stood there, but then I remembered what Mrs. McGuire did to get him to sit down so I placed my hands on Yugi's shoulders and gently pushed him down so he was sitting next to Bakura. I then sat on the other side of him. As soon as I sat down, I noticed Yugi tense up. 'Must not be used to being so close to people.'

"Hey Marik, would you mind switching with Yugi?" I asked.

"No problem." Marik got up and moved over to the couch. I led Yugi to the chair and gently pushed him down until he was sitting like I did before. At first, he seemed unsure but then he settled down and got comfortable. He seemed more comfortable sitting alone, not between Bakura and I. Marik took Yugi's spot on the couch.

When I noticed Yugi looking at me I asked him "Is there anything you want to watch Yugi?" He lowered his head quickly, then shook his head. 'How can I get Yugi to open up to me?' I wondered 'well I have time, I mean its only been a few hours since he's been here.' I started to channel surf until I came upon a movie that looked like something Yugi would want to watch. It was a Disney movie called 'Angels in the Outfield' I left it on this channel and watched Yugi closely for a reaction. He looked up at the movie and, although his facial expression didn't change, I saw his eyes light up. Bakura was about to ask me why I stopped it here but then he also saw the way Yugi's eyes were dancing while he watched the movie with interest. Bakura looked at me and we both smiled. It was not a big victory, but at this point we'll take whatever we could get.

It was late at night when the movie ended. As the three of got up to stretch, I noticed that Yugi had fallen asleep in the chair. I debated on whether or not to wake him up, but he looked like a little angel while sleeping and I didn't have the heart to wake him up. I felt Yugi tense up when I put my arm around his back, but he relaxed once I had him in my arms. Yugi head flopped to the side and rested gently against my shoulder.

I looked over at Bakura and Marik. "You guys can crash here if you want." I whispered so as not to wake the sleeping child.

"Thanks Yami, I think we will." Said Marik.

We all headed upstairs. Just as we were almost to the top of the stairs the phone started ringing. 'Now who would be calling at this hour?' I wondered. I looked towards Bakura.

"Hey Bakura, would you mind laying Yugi down while I answer that?" I asked him.

"No problem, Yami." Bakura replied.

I gently passed Yugi to Bakura, but the second my arms left Yugi, he started to whimper. At first I thought it was nothing, but then Yugi started thrashing and shivering in Bakura's arms.

"Here Bakura, let me take him back." I said worriedly.

The second Yugi was back in my arms he settled down immediately. Bakura and I were just amazed.

"I guess I'll carry Yugi up to bed" I said, still confused as to what had just happened and I could tell that Bakura was also confused, "would you mind getting the phone?"

"No problem." Bakura replied.

I watched him head to the kitchen to answer the phone while I walked down the hall to put Yugi to bed. I carried Yugi into the room that I picked out for him, and gently lay him on the bed. I took off his shoes and debated on wether or not to change him into more comfortable clothes, in the end I just left him in his clothes and covered him up. I left Yugi's door open, since this is his first night here, and I didn't want him to get scared. And then I headed back downstairs to see who had called.

Normal point of view

Bakura in the kitchen

Bakura ran to the phone and answered it on the fourth ring.

"Hello?" Bakura said

"Is Yami there? I must speak with him. This is Mrs. McGuire from the orphanage." The voice replied.

"He's here but he is putting Yugi to bed." Bakura answered. "He tried to answer the phone himself but the second I tried to take Yugi from him, Yugi started thrashing and shivering really bad."

"Did you calm him down?," She asked worriedly, "Is he okay?"

"Yes, Yugi is fine now" Said Bakura "It was the weirdest thing, the second he was back in Yami's arms he calmed down almost instantly."

"That is amazing." came the shocked reply "but I still need to speak with Yami right away."

Just then Yami walked into the kitchen and gave Bakura a questioning look.

"Hold on a second," Bakura said, he covered up the mouthpiece on the phone and spoke to Yami "It's that lady from the orphanage, she said she has to speak with you."

"Hello, Mrs. McGuire what can I do for you?" Yami asked.

"Yami is what your friend said true? Did you calm Yugi just by holding him?" She asked.

"Yea I did, it was the weirdest thing" Yami replied "all Bakura did was hold him and Yugi started freaking out, and when I took him back he calmed down immediately."

"Actually that's part of the reason I called. I forgot to warn you that Yugi gets terrible nightmares sometimes, and I needed to tell you how to handle them. I am surprised that you were able to calm him so quickly, hopefully, if he gets nightmares that will also work."

"What is the other way to calm him" Yami questioned "I mean the way to calm him that involved calling me."

"Well, since Yugi can't hear you, its important that he can see you" She answered "Do you remember the method I show you to get him to look at you? Well, no matter how hard he fights it, and believe me he will fight it, you have to make him see you, _especially_ when he is really scared, but you also have to remember to be gentle with him." She warned "Although I am really surprised that it just took you holding him to calm him, he has never calmed down that quickly, Malik was the only one who could calm him down after a nightmare. I am also surprised you were able to especially since you have only known him for a few hours. You might just be the thing he needs to help him recover. I wish you luck Yami. Sorry again for calling so late. Have a good night." And with that she hung up the phone.

"Well" Bakura asked "what else did she say?"

"She just called to warn me that Yugi gets nightmare sometimes and she told me what to do if he had one" Yami replied "She also said she was really surprised that I was able to calm Yugi so quickly, she said he has never calmed down that quick before, unless his friend Malik was near him."

"Yeah, that surprised me also." Bakura said.

"You and me both." Yami replied "Well I don't know about you, but I am going to bed now. Good night."

"Good night Yami."

They both made their way upstairs and went to their own rooms. Yami walked into his room and got ready for bed. He decided to leave his door open incase Yugi needed anything in the middle of the night. As he lay in bed he couldn't get what Mrs. McGuire said to him out of his head

/Although I am really surprised that it just took you holding him to calm him, he has never calmed down that quickly, Malik was the only one who could calm him down after a nightmare. I am also surprised you were able to especially since you have only known him for a few hours. You might just be the thing he needs to help him recover./

'Could that really be true?' Yami thought 'Could I really help Yugi recover just by being here? Does he unconsciously trust me already?' After what felt like forever to Yami, he finally fell asleep.

It was in the middle of the night when a strange sound woke Yami up from his sleep. 'What was that?' Yami thought. Yami decided to get out of bed and investigate. 'Oh no, its coming from Yugi's room.' Yami quickly ran into Yugi's room to see what was the matter. When he walked in the door, he saw Yugi crying and thrashing wildly on the bed with sweat and tears streaming down his poor face.

'He must be having a nightmare' Yami thought. Yami turned on the light then he walked over to the bed, sat down and then gently shook Yugi trying to wake the young boy up. After a few minutes of gently shaking Yugi he finally woke up. He sat up like a shot and looked around the room with large, frightened eyes. Yami tried to comfort him but Yugi was shaking uncontrollably. Yami wrapped his arms around Yugi and held him close, but it wasn't working, Yugi was still shivering. So Yami lifted Yugi onto his lap and gently raised his chin until their eyes met but Yugi quickly looked away. Yami then used two fingers and put them in Yugi's line of sight, then moved his fingers slowly towards his own eyes, Yugi's eyes followed his fingers and once their eyes met again Yugi moved his eyes to look anywhere but at Yami's face. Yami continued trying, waiting patiently until Yugi's eyes finally looked at his and didn't move them away.

"Its okay Yugi" Yami whispered, rocking back and forth, making sure Yugi was still looking at him "Your safe, its okay now."

The rocking motion was finally starting to calm Yugi down. Yami tried to wrap his arms around Yugi again to comfort him, but felt Yugi stiffen when he touched his shoulders. Yami withdrew his arms, but kept whispering comforting words to Yugi, always making sure that Yugi was still looking directly at him. Yugi was so exhausted from the stress the dream caused, that he slumped against Yami, resting his head on Yami's shoulder. Yami tried once again to wrap his arms around Yugi, except this time Yugi didn't flinch away. Yami continued to hold him until he noticed that Yugi breathing evened out signaling that he finally fell back asleep.

Yami sighed and gently lifted Yugi off his lap, laying him back down and then he covered him up once again and then walked over to the door. Before he shut off the light he looked back at Yugi once more. Then he turned off the light and walked into the hallway where he almost knocked Bakura over because he wasn't expecting anyone else to be up at this hour of the night.

"What happened?" He asked "What was that noise?

"It was Yugi, he had a nightmare" Yami replied "I am just really glad that Mrs. McGuire called tonight, otherwise I wouldn't have know what to do."

"Is he okay?" Bakura asked.

"Yeah, he finally fell back asleep," Yami answered, then he yawned and replied sleepily, "Well, morning comes too early, Good night Bakura."

"Night Yami." Bakura replied.

The next timeYami was awakened, it was because of the sunlight shinning into his crimson eyes, as he slowly opened them. 'Morning already? Its too early go get up.' Yami looked at the clock on his night stand, it read 8am. 'Yup, like I said it is too early to get up.' Yami was about to stretch and go back to sleep, but then he remembered Yugi's nightmare last night. He got out of bed to check on the boy, when he left his room, he noticed delicious smells coming from downstairs. Before heading downstairs, Yami decided to check on Yugi to see if he was still sleeping. When he went to Yugi's room, he was surprised to see that Yugi awake. He was sitting on his bed facing the window with a lost expression on his face. Yami slowly walked up to him, so as not to startle the young boy. Yami walked around the bed until he was facing Yugi.

Yugi looked up when he noticed a presence near him, and he was slightly startled to see Yami there. He looked Yami in the eye and for the first time he didn't look away. Since for once Yami had his attention, he decided to ask him a question.

"Are you hungry?" Yami asked "lets go and see what Bakura made us for breakfast." Yugi lowered his head again and Yami wasn't sure if Yugi was going to answer him or not, then Yugi nodded. Yami smiled and went to leave the room and he noticed Yugi fall in step behind him as Yami walked downstairs. Yami entered the kitchen and saw Bakura by the stove cooking and Marik standing by Bakura arguing with him.

Yami walked up to the arguing pair and asked "Can't you guys do something besides argue all the time?"

Marik snorted "Well, if Bakura knew how to cook then there wouldn't be an argument."

"Ha, that's a laugh" Bakura replied "Atleast everything I cook doesn't taste like cardboard."

"Cardboard?" Marik questioned "I am a way better cook than you are, right Yami?"

"No way," Yami said putting his hands up, laughing, "I am not getting in the middle of this one, you guys can work it out yourseves."

They both glared at Yami but he only rolled his eyes at the pair and turned around to sit down, then he noticed Yugi watching the pair fight with mild interest.

Bakura noticed Yugi standing there watching them and got an idea. "Hey Yugi" Bakura said "Come here for a second."

Yugi looked unsure, but slowly made his way to the pair. He looked at Bakura with questioning eyes.

"Yugi, can you be our judge?" Bakura asked "You can be the official taste tester, how does that sound?"

Yugi didn't know what to think 'Should I?' Yugi thought 'what if they get mad at me? What if I choose the wrong person?'

Yami, Marik and Bakura could tell that Yugi was nervous and that he was debating what to do.

'Maybe it was too soon to ask him to pick between us, even if is just a food judging contest' Bakura thought. "You don't have to if you don't want to, Yugi. We won't get mad at you, this is really just for fun, that's all."

Yugi slowly nodded his head at Bakura, and all three guys smiled. 'I think he's really getting more comfortable around us' Yami thought,'maybe he will finally found a place where he doen't have to be feel nervous and frightened all the time.'

Bakura put his hand on Yugi's shoulder to led him to the table, but quickly removed it when he felt Yugi tense up. "Alright Yugi, come here and sit in the official judging chair."

When Yugi was seated, Bakura walked back to the stove. "Alright Marik, you cook your breakfast and I will cook mine. The loser has to do all the dishes, Deal?" Bakura asked.

Marik shook Bakura's hand "Deal, and I promise you're going to lose." Marik smirked.

Yami laughed at the two and sat at the table with Yugi. After a few minutes and a few choice words, breakfast was finally served. Both Marik and Bakura put a plate in front of Yugi for him to judge as they both crowded around him, waiting for his ruling. Yugi noticeable tensed up by how close they were to him, Yami noticed.

"Guys, back up a little and give Yugi some a little space would you." Yami said. Marik and Bakura saw what he meant and decided to sit in the chairs at the table. Yugi visibly relaxed, and shyly took a sample off Bakura's plate first. He put it in his mouth, chewed a little, then smiled shyly.

Yami thought 'I'm happy that Yugi is finally somewhat relaxing around us, this is the first emotion I have seen him actually show on his face, not just with his eyes.'

'He's smiling, at least it's a start in the right direction.' thought Bakura.

Yugi then turned to Marik's plate. He repeated his same process except instead of smiling, he scrunched up his face, which made Yami and Bakura start laughing, while Yugi tried to discreetly spit the food out into his napkin. Bakura and Yami were practically rolling on the ground with laughter.

Yami finally contained his laughter and walked over to Bakura. He raised Bakura's right arm and said "I think Bakura is the official winner." He looked at Yugi for confirmation and Yugi nodded happily while Marik went over to start the dishes, eventhough he sulked on the outside, his friends could see that he really wasn't that upset since they had a small victory in getting Yugi to trust them.


	2. Yugi cries, Ryou explains

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugi or any of the characters.

By the way, if I get any of the Japanese words wrong can you please correct me? I am just learning and I only know a few words.

'Thoughts'

Yugi Cries

While Marik was in the kitchen finishing the dishes, Yami and the others were waiting for him in the livingroom. Yugi sat on one end of the couch, Yami on the other, and Bakura sat in the chair. Yami dug through the couch cushions and found the remote, he started to channel surf to see if anything good was on. When Marik finished the dishes, he took a seat in the beanbag chair that was on the floor.

Bakura was thinking about what he and Yami were talking about yesterday. "Yami?" Bakura asked "Tell me about that kid that looked like me."

"Yea," Marik replied, "they sound interesting."

Yami looked away from the TV and turned to Bakura "Yeah, what do you want to know?"

"Did you find out anything about him?" Bakura questioned.

"Not really" Yami shook his head "Mrs. McGuire only told me his name, and its Ryou. He looked so much like you that he could've been your twin. It was kind of creepy. You should go down there if you want to know more about him, he seemed really nice. The other one's name is Malik."

Yami thought for a minute "Guys? This is going to sound crazy but I have an idea, I mean, you guys spend so much time here that you practically live here and i was just wondering why don't you guys just move in? I mean this is an awfully big house for just one person, and there's plenty of room." Yami asked, completely unaware that Yugi was 'listening' to everything that they said.

'One person? Why did Yami say that? I thought I was staying here too' Yugi lowered his head sadly. 'So they don't want me here, otherwise Yami wouldn't have said just one person. Maybe they want Ryou and Malik to live here instead of me since they're both more open to people and will talk them.' Yugi kept his eyes on the ground. He could feel the tears forming behind his eyes. 'Why doesn't anyone want me? What did I do wrong?'

Yami was waiting for Bakura and Marik to answer his question so he didn't notice that Yugi was silently crying. It didn't take much time for Bakura and Marik to think about their answer.

"Sounds cool to me." Replied Bakura.

"Aright!" Said Marik.

Yami smiled at their reactions. "Good then it's settled. Hey, do you guys want to go to the orphanage and get to know Ryou and Malik better?" Yami asked.

Bakura nodded his head "Yeah, I think I will?"

Yeah, I'll come too." Replied Marik.

"Alright." Yami answered, then he turned to Yugi and noticed he was staring at the ground. Yami slid over on the couch until he was beside Yugi, he gently tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, but all Yugi did was flinch away from his touch and continue to stare at the ground. Yami tried to catch his gaze and it took five tries before Yugi would look at him. Now that Yami had Yugi's attention, he saw the sadness in his eyes so he quietly asked "Don't you want to see your friends' again Yugi?" Yugi nodded his head sadly.

'Something is bothering Yugi.' Yami thought 'after what happened in the kitchen this morning, I thought he was finally opening up to us. It seems like we took one step forward and two steps back.'

"Yugi what's wrong?" Yami asked "Why are you so sad?"

Yugi lowered his head again and refused to answer, instead he just shook his head from side to side as if to say nothing was wrong.

Yami looked over at Bakura and Marik, but they were as confused by Yugi's actions as he was. Yami tapped Yugi on the shoulder again, but Yugi just stood up and walked towards the door signaling he was ready to go. Yami sighed and followed him.

"Come on guys, lets go." Yami said as he walked out of the living room. Bakura and Marik both got up, gave each other a confused look and then walked to the front door where Yami and Yugi were waiting for them. Soon after that, they were all piled into the car and on their way to the orphanage. Yami, Bakura and Marik kept glancing at Yugi with worried looks on their faces, while Yugi kept his gaze on the floor.

'I knew this was too good to be true.' Yugi thought. 'Why would they want me when Malik and Ryou are more fun and I'm such a baby.'

When they arrived at the orphanage, Yugi jumped out of the car and ran inside the building before anyone could even get out of the car. The others were confused by his actions and chased after him.

Yugi has tears in his eyes as he ran down the familiar hallways making it hard for him to see where he was going, suddenly he collided with something and fell to the ground. He tearfully looked up to see Mrs. McGuire standing there. She had a worried look on her face when she reached down to help Yugi off the ground.

"Yugi?" She asked once he was looking at her "What's wrong?"

Yugi just shook his head and ran down the hall until he was out of sight. She watched him run away from her and she really started to worry then, a few minutes later, Yami and his friends came running up to her.

"Have you seen Yugi?" Yami asked breathlessly.

Mrs. McGuire nodded her head, worry still in her eyes. "He bumped into me then took off running down the hall. What happened?"

"I don't know." Yami admitted "Bakura here wanted to get to know Ryou better, and Marik wanted to meet Malik, then suddenly Yugi was crying and running away from us."

"Well, how did last night go?" She asked "Did anything happen this morning?"

"Well, Yugi had a nightmare last night, and I was able to calm him down." Yami began "Then this morning he was fine, he even judged a cook off between Bakura and Marik. He even smiled for the first time."

"I see." Mrs. McGuire said "when did you notice that he was sad?"

"When we were in the living room talking." Bakura replied. He started to think back to their conversation.

"Yami?" Bakura said worriedly, "I think I know what's wrong with Yugi."

"What?" replied Yami, Marik and Mrs. McGuire.

"You remember when you said when you asked us to move in with you?" Bakura said. Yami nodded.

"You said 'this house is too big for one person' and I think that Yugi took it the wrong way, maybe he thought that you didn't want him anymore. That we wanted Malik and Ryou instead."

Yami lowered his head "Oh, my God. I didn't even think of that, poor Yugi, we have to find him right now and clear up this misunderstanding."

They all split up and searched the entire building for Yugi, but found no sign of the small boy. Yami was about to give up when Ryou walked up to him and tugged on his sleeve. Yami turned around slightly startled and looked at him "Yes."

"I think I know where Yugi went." Ryou said quietly unsure if he should help them or not, "Usually when he's really upset he goes to the roof to be alone."

Just as Yami was about to thank Ryou for the help, when he heard another voice shout out, "Ryou why are you helping them?" Malik asked the snowy haired boy, then he turned toward Yami, "I saw Yugi run past me crying, what did you do to him?"

"It was nothing but a big misunderstanding," Yami tried to explain, "I brought my friends to meet you two since you could all pass as twins like Yugi and I."

Yami continued to tell the pair about the events that occured that morning until Malik was satisfied with the answer, "You had better be telling me the truth, you can go up and see Yugi. He has been hurt enough in his life and I'm going to make sure he doesn't get hurt again as long as I can help it. Just remember if you hurt him, you have to deal with me."

Yami nodded to Malik and thanked Ryou, then ran up to the roof. Sure enough, there was Yugi sitting on the ledge crying. Yami slowly walked up to the young boy and put his hand on Yugi's shoulder. Yugi flinched away, not even looking at Yami. Yami sighed and tried to get his attention again, but Yugi refused to look at him.

'I can't believe how selfish I was today. I didn't even think about Yugi when I asked Bakura and Marik to stay with me and have Bakura and Marik meet Ryou and Malik.' Yami thought. 'It must have really hurt Yugi to think that we wanted Ryou and Malik instead of him.'

After about five minutes, Yami finally got Yugi to look at him and when he did, Yami could see the tears and pain that was in Yugi's amethyst eyes.

"Yugi, I am so sorry about this morning." Yami began "I do want you to live with me, I don't want you to go. My friends just wanted to meet your friends since its been so much fun having you around, and they wanted someone also. Can you forgive me?"

Yugi lowered his eyes to the ground again, and Yami wasn't sure if he was going to answer or not, finally after a minute, Yugi looked back up at Yami and gave him a hesitant nod. Yami smiled, and Yugi returned it with a very small smile of his own. Then Yami helped Yugi up and they walked back inside and down the stairs. When they reached where they left the others, they saw Bakura and Ryou sitting in a corner getting to know each other better. Malik immediately ran up to Yugi and kneeled in front of the small boy.

"Are you alright?" Malik asked concerned.

Yugi nodded his head and went back to Yami and the others

"Is everything all right?" Bakura asked looking at Yugi concerned

"It is now" Yami replied "I explained what happened to Yugi and he has forgiven me."

'Hopefully we can continue where we left off, but I think that Yugi may need some more time to open up to us' Thought Yami 'Maybe even longer now that this happened.'

Bakura smiled "I'm happy to hear that. I asked Ryou to stay with us also, if that's all right with everyone."

Yami and Marik nodded to show that it was fine with them and Ryou was so happy with the news that he ran up and gave Bakura a hug. Bakura looked at him and smiled.

Marik slowly walked up to Malik, "Do you want to come too? You could live with us and be closer to your friends."

Malik looked at Yugi and Ryou, he could see in their eyes that they wanted him to come also, he looked back at Marik and replied, "Yea, I'll stay with you."

'I don't remember the last time I was this happy. Now the three of us will always be together' Ryou thought. Then to show his thanks he gave Yami and Marik a hug also while Yugi just stood there looking at the ground.

'I am glad that Ryou and Malik are happy, but I can't shake the feeling that three of us might be too much' Yugi thought, 'I'm sure once they get to know those two better, they'll realize that I'm too much work and want Malik and Ryou instead. I mean they'll talk to them and shows them their emotions. I just stand there staring either at them or the ground, and I act like a big baby. I'm just afraid that this will all be a dream and Yami won't like me any more and either abandon me or turn into the kind of people my parents were and I just can't deal with that again.'

When they found Mrs. McGuire they explained everything and asked to also take Ryou and Malik with them. She agreed and was happy that the boys would finally have a loving family.

Then the six of them piled into the car once again and headed home. Malik and Ryou were happily talking back and forth while trying to get Yugi to join in, but Yugi would just stare out the window.

When they arrived back at the house, Yami showed them around and told them where their rooms were. As they were heading downstairs to watch TV, Ryou tapped Yugi's shoulder to get his attention. Yugi looked up at him and Ryou gently pulled him back into his bedroom and shut the door.

"Yugi, Daijobu?" Ryou asked "you look sad, aren't you happy here?"

Yugi kept his gaze on the floor then shook his head. Then he walked over to the desk Yami gave him and rummaged around until he found a small notebook that he wrote down all his thoughts and fears into, and handed it to Ryou. At first Ryou was confused, until he read the paper and understood why Yugi was so upset this morning. He tapped Yugi to get his attention again, when Yugi looked up Ryou told him "Yugi, I don't think you have anything to worry about. They are nothing like your parents. Yami wants you to stay here with him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have picked you. Okay?"

Yugi nodded his head, then followed Ryou downstairs.

After another wonderful meal by Bakura, the group decided to go back into the living room to watch a movie. While debating what to watch, they sat around and chatted. Trying to get to know each other better.

Bakura and Ryou were sitting on the couch. Ryou was telling him about his life before and while he was at the orphanage.

Marik and Malik were sitting on the bean bag chair asking each other questions.

Yami and Yugi were sitting on the love seat. Yami was watching the movie while glancing worriedly at Yugi, and Yugi was busy staring at the floor.

Yami tried several times during the movie to get Yugi's attention to talk to him, but all night Yugi would just flinch away from his touches.

'Sorry Yami, I just need a little more time.' thought Yugi. 'All this is still very new to me, please understand.' He switched from watching Yami out of the corner of his eye, to staring at the ground.

Ryou noticed the sad look on Yugi's face then, after making sure Yugi wasn't looking at them, Ryou turned to Yami and said, "Yugi has been through so much, it's really hard for him to open up to people. You know since I have known him he has not shown any emotion what's so ever. Please be patient with him Yami, he's had such a hard life that he's unsure of others and also himself. He is afraid to open up to you because he thinks that this might end up being a dream and you will turn out just like his parents. I may be his friend but he's still nervous around me. Malik is the only one he goes to when he's upset or frightened."

Yami listened carefully to what the white-haired boy was saying. "How do you know all this about him?" Yami asked.

Ryou was about to answer but then he saw Yugi looking at him curiously, "I'll tell you later Yami, Okay?"

"All right." Yami replied.

Yugi, not really understanding what they were talking about, just stared at them sadly before looking back at the movie. They all settled into a comfortable silence while watching the movie.

Yami was slightly startled when he felt a sudden weight against his shoulder. He looked towards Yugi and noticed that he was fast asleep and slumped against him. Yami carefully got up off the couch and said, "I'll be right back guys."

Then he turned around and went to put his arms around Yugi to carry him upstairs. He felt Yugi tense up at his touch, but once he was in Yami's arms he relaxed again. Yami carried Yugi up to his room and lay him gently on the bed. He removed his shoes and socks, then he covered him up. He quietly left the room and decided to leave the door open again, incase Yugi needed something. After one more glance at Yugi, Yami headed back to where the others were hanging out downstairs.

When he re-entered the living room, Malik watched curiously as Ryou stood up and walked over to Yami.

"Here Yami," He said, "I think you should read this." He handed Yami the paper that Yugi had given him earlier. Yami read the paper and his eyes widened. 'That's why he was so sad today, he thought that I didn't want him anymore. Poor little guy.' He turned to Ryou

"When did he give you this?" Yami asked.

"When we were upstairs, I could tell something was bothering him," Ryou answered. "At first I wasn't going to give it to you, but then I thought it might help you to understand Yugi better."

"Thank's Ryou," Yami said, "I'm glad you gave this to me." Then Yami thought for a second "Hey Ryou, can I ask you a question?"

"Hai, ask away." Replied Ryou.

"Has Yugi ever spoken to you or Malik?" Asked Yami.

"Iie." Answered Malik and Ryou.

"When Yugi wants to say something, which is extremely rare, he usually writes it down." Ryou explained. "We're not even sure if he can talk at all, either before or after his parents hurt him."

"Yeah," Yami said, "That's what Mrs. McGuire told me."

"Well hopefully he will open up to us soon," Said Bakura, "He was so happy this morning after the judging contest, he even smiled."

"Yeah," Marik grumbled, "the only downfall to this morning is that I lost the cook-off and had to do all the dishes."

Everyone laughed at the memory, while telling Malik and Ryou the story.

Finally after a few more hours, everyone decided that it was time for bed. They all said good night to each other, then went to their rooms.

In the middle of the night, Yami was once again woken up by a strange sound. 'Yugi!' Was Yami's first thought. He quickly got out of bed and ran across the hall to Yugi's room. Sure enough, there was Yugi thrashing and whimpering in his bed. He had sweat streaming down his face mixing with tears. Yami turned on the light and ran to the bed. He sat on the edge and tried to wake the young boy up. Yugi finally woke up. He sat up and looked around the room with scared eyes as if he was expecting someone else to be in the room with him. Yami tried to get Yugi to look at him, but whenever their eyes locked Yugi would quickly look in another direction. Yami tried to be as gentle as he could, but Yugi would just continue fighting him, shaking uncontrollably. After what felt like hours to Yami, Yugi finally met his gaze without looking away, he slightly calmed down once he saw that only Yami was there but he couldn't stop shaking.

"Yugi, it's me Yami. You're safe now, no one is going to hurt you." Yami whispered, while keeping his hand on Yugi's chin so he couldn't look away.

Yami was slightly startled when Yugi grabbed onto him, hugging him as if he would never let him go. Yami wrapped his arms around Yugi in a comforting embrace and for the first time Yugi didn't tense up at the contact. He just held Yugi until his shaking stopped and his breathing slowed down. Yami was about to release his hold on Yugi, but then felt Yugi tighten his grip while shaking his head. So Yami just continued to hold Yugi until he felt Yugi's grip on him loosen up and he slumped against Yami's shoulder. Yami looked down to see a sleeping Yugi resting against his chest, his shirt was still clenched in Yugi's small fingers. Yami gently pried his shirt out of Yugi's hands and laid him back onto his bed. He pulled the covers over Yugi's sleeping form and quietly walked towards the door, he took one last look at Yugi before he shut off the light.

Yami sleepily made his way back to his room and flopped down on his bed. 'Well at least I am making some progress. Yugi didn't flinch away when I touched him.' Yami thought 'it's a start.'

Then Yami fell back asleep.

Yugi woke with a start. 'When will these nightmares end?' He thought sadly. It was still dark outside and Yugi was afraid to go back to sleep. 'I wish Yami was here, he makes me feel as safe as Malik does when he holds me.' Yugi quietly got out of bed and walked to Yami's room. He peaked inside and saw Yami sprawled out across his bed. Yugi nervously walked over to the bed. He reached out to touch Yami's shoulder but stopped himself before touching it. 'What if he gets mad at me for waking him?' Yugi thought fearfully. He was about to walk back to his own room when Yami stirred. Yugi quickly backed away from the bed and tripped over something on the ground. The 'thump' of Yugi hitting the floor woke Yami and he sat up. He looked over the side of the bed and was surprised to see Yugi there staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

"Yugi?" Yami asked concerned "what's wrong?" When he received no reply he got out of bed and kneeled next to the frightened boy. He placed a hand on Yugi's quivering shoulder. Yugi wrapped his arms around Yami's neck and started crying. Yami was startled by Yugi's actions, but returned the embrace. When Yugi had calmed down a little, Yami asked him again "What's wrong Yugi? Did you have another nightmare?"

Yugi tearfully nodded at Yami and buried his face in Yami's chest. Yami raised Yugi's chin with his finger and looked into Yugi's eyes. Yugi quickly adverted his gaze and reached into his pocket that held his little notebook. He wrote a little note and handed it to Yami. Yami reached over to turn on the light so he could read over the note. Yugi shut his eyes as the bright light suddenly filled the room, as Yami read the note he was surprised. In Yugi's note he asked if he could stay in here with him tonight, and that he was too afraid to go back to sleep. Yami reread the note to make sure he read it right. Then looked at Yugi.

Yugi, thinking he was in trouble, got up off the ground and slowly made his way back to his room with his head down, sniffling. Yami stopped him by gently grabbing his wrist, when Yugi turned around he saw Yami smiling at him. "Its okay Yugi." Yami said, "You're not in trouble, you can stay here if you want."

Yugi smiled shyly and crawled into Yami's bed. Yami returned the smile. Yami went back to his bed, shut off the light and laid down. He felt Yugi snuggling up against him and so he wrapped his arms around him.

Yugi sighed contently and fell asleep right away. Yami laid there for a while unable to fall back asleep. 'I'm glad that Yugi is starting to feel more safe around me.' Yami thought 'Now if I can just get him to open up more, I think that's going to be the hardest part.' After a few moments Yami finally fell asleep.

Yami awoke the next morning with the sun shining brightly in his eyes. He tried to sit up but felt something on his chest. He propped himself up on his elbows, looked down and smiled. Sometime during the night, Yugi shifted and fell asleep with his head resting on Yami's chest, using him as a pillow. Yami wanted to get up, but he felt reluctant to wake the sleeping boy. Just then, Bakura walked into his room to see if he was awake. He raised an eyebrow in surprise to see Yugi sleeping curled up next to Yami.

"Is he okay?" Bakura asked concerned.

"Yeah," Yami answered, "He came in here in the middle of the night, he had another nightmare and was afraid to fall back asleep alone. So he asked if he could stay here with me."

"Asked?" Bakura asked confused

"Well," Yami admitted, "Okay so he wrote a note."

"It seems like he's really starting to feel more comfortable around you." Bakura stated "At least he's showing some improvement." Bakura smiled. "I'm going to make breakfast now." Then he left the room and headed downstairs.

Yami tried to get up without waking Yugi, but stopped when Yugi started to stir.

Yugi slowly opened his tired amethyst eyes and started at Yami. At first there was confusion in his eyes, then he remember what occurred last night. He shivered unconsciously and Yami tightened his grip on Yugi. Yugi calmed down again and returned the embrace.

When Yugi was looking at him again Yami asked, "Are you hungry? Bakura is making breakfast now."

Yugi lowered his eyes and hesitantly nodded his head. Yami, confused by Yugi's actions, gently raised Yugi's chin so they were looking eye to eye "Yugi, What's wrong?" Yami asked concerned.

Yugi just shook his head. Then he got up and started to go to his own room to get ready, he turned around to face Yami again and gave him another shy smile. He walked back to Yami and handed him a piece of paper, then left the room.

Yami, confused, opened and read the note Yugi gave him, it said three simple words that touched his heart deeply. 'Thank you Yami'

Yami smiled. Then he started to get ready to start another day.


	3. Yugi Laughs

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugi or any of the characters.

'Thoughts'

Yugi Laughs

Yugi smiled to himself as he got ready. 'Yami is so nice to me' Yugi thought as he walked out of his room, 'I can believe how lucky I am to have found him.' Yugi was so lost in his thoughts that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. He bumped into someone, but he felt someone's arms catch him before he hit the ground. Yugi noticeably tensed and the person quickly removed their hand. Yugi stayed on the ground and fearfully looked up to see who he ran into. Yugi felt all his emotions crash over him like a tidalwave and he was so overwhelmed by the sudden rush of emotion, that he didn't see Bakura standing there instead his mind suddenly was stuck in the past and he imagined that he was back with his parents again. He quickly lowered his eyes to the floor thinking he was going to get yelled at for not watching where he was going.

Bakura, confused by Yugi's actions, tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. Yugi refused to look at him, his parents liked to try and get him to look at them, so then when he did, they could punish him worse for disobeying. Bakura was about to try again, when Yami came out of his room. He quickly walked over to Yugi and kneeled down in front of him. Yami tapped his shoulder and was worried when Yugi whimpered and started shaking, so then Yami placed his hand under Yugi's chin and gently made him look up. When Yugi saw Yami instead of his parents, his memory returned back to the present.

When Yami knew he finally had Yugi's attention, he asked, "Yugi what's wrong?" Instead of answering, Yugi just latched onto him in a fierce hug. His hands clenching tightly into Yami's shirt. Yami looked at Bakura confused but returned the hug.

"Bakura, what happened?" Yami asked.

"I don't know," Bakura admitted, "I was coming out of my room and I accidently ran into him. I tried to get his attention, but he flinched away and refused to look at me it looked like he was in some sort of trance and I couldn't get him out of it. I'm just glad that you happened to be walking by since he only seems to respond to you." Bakura sighed, glad that Yugi was going to be alright, "Well since you're here now and he finally calmed down, I'm going downstairs to start breakfast, are you two going to be okay?"

Yami just nodded and rubbed circles on Yugi's back to soothe him. Bakura just smiled at them then went to the kitchen. 'At least Yugi is more comfortable around Yami now,' Bakura thought, 'but I wonder why he was suddenly so frightened of me?'

After Yugi finally calmed down, Yami raised his head so Yugi was looking at him, "Are you okay now?" He asked, Yugi nodded, "You know Bakura wouldn't hurt you, he's your friend also."

Yugi nodded again, but refused to release his hold on Yami. 'That was Bakura?' Yugi thought, 'why did I imagine I was back with my parents?'

Yami just sighed and then picked Yugi up. Yugi gave a startled squeak, but quickly settled down into the warmth and security of the embrace. He rested his head on Yami's shoulder and let Yami carry him downstairs. Yami smiled at his reaction.

As he neared the kitchen, He heard his friends quarreling as usual. He walked in to find Bakura and Ryou cooking breakfast, and Marik insulting Bakura's cooking as usual. Malik was sitting at the table laughing at the scene.

"Let's have another cook-off," Marik was saying, "Yugi, Ryou and Malik can be the judges. I refuse to think that my cooking is that bad."

"Believe me Marik," Yami said laughing leaning against the doorframe, "Your cooking is really that bad."

They all turned to the sound of Yami's voice and were surprised to see Yugi in his arms. Yugi noticed everyone staring at him, so he buried his face into Yami's shirt again.

"Is he okay?" Bakura asked, "I didn't mean to bump into him, I just didn't see him standing there."

"Yeah," Yami answered "I think he's just still tired. He had another nightmare last night."

After a few minutes of coaxing, Yami finally got Yugi to look at him. "You hungry?" Yami asked, "Breakfast is almost done." Yugi nodded and finally released his hold on Yami and sat down at the table next to Malik.

Malik looked at him worriedly and whispered, "are you alright?" Yugi nodded his head and handed Malik a small piece of paper. Malik read over the note and looked at Yugi even more worried, "Was it as bad as the other ones?" he whispered again.

Yugi nodded again as tears suddenly came to his eyes, Malik silently just held him and rubbed his back as the younger continued to cry. Malik looked up and saw the others looking at Yugi as worried as he was, but he shook his head silently asking them to talk about it later. The group nodded and quickly understood. With the exception of this morning, the others were amazed at how quickly Yugi had responded to Yami.

"I'm impressed," Malik exclaimed while everyone started eating their breakfast, "I have never seen Yugi warm up to anyone, other than me, that fast."

Yami looked down at the small boy to make sure he wasn't paying attention. He told Yugi's friends what happened in the hallway and then asked Malik, "Do you know what was wrong with Yugi this morning? Bakura said he seemed like he was a million miles away."

Malik nodded his head, "Yeah, occasionally, Yugi get's these flashbacks where in his mind he is suddenly back at his parents house, this morning was one of those times."

Yugi looked up from his breakfast, trying to figure out what they were saying, everyone went back to eating before Yugi could read anyone's lips. He just shrugged his shoulders and continued eating.

Just then the phone rang, Yami got up to answer it. "I am kind of busy right now," He tried explaining, "All right fine, I am on my way now." Yami hung up the phone and walked to Yugi.

He tapped his shoulder and Yugi looked up with questioning eyes. "I hate to do this to you Yugi, but I have to go to work for a few hours," Yami explained, "There's a minor problem that for some reason my staff can't handle alone. Are you going to be all right?"

Yugi looked away from Yami and hesitantly nodded. Yami could tell that he was still scared. Yami gently tapped his shoulder, and Yugi looked up, "I will be back as soon as possible, if you need anything just ask Bakura and Marik Okay?" He asked.

Yugi just nodded his head again. Yami then went back upstairs to change. Then he said goodbye to everyone and went to work.

After breakfast, everyone went back into the living room. Bakura and Ryou were really getting along well, and they were sitting on the couch chatting. Marik and Malik were sitting on the other couch. Bakura noticed Yugi standing in the entryway, looking at the front door. Bakura got up and walked over to where Yugi was. He tapped Yugi's shoulder to get his attention, but Yugi refused to look at him. He tried to catch his gaze with his fingers, but still Yugi refused. Bakura put his hand on Yugi's shoulder to guide him to the chair. Yugi flinched away from his touch and walked into the living room. He sat in the chair and looked sadly at the door. After a few hours, Bakura glanced over to where Yugi was sitting and saw that he had fallen back asleep. 'Poor guy, after what Malik told us I'm not surprised that Yugi is still uncomfortable around us.'

Yugi was still tired. The nightmares kept him up late last night. He fell asleep on the chair, curled up in a tight ball.

Marik and Malik decided to go for a walk, while Ryou went upstairs to finish putting his stuff away. Bakura went into the kitchen to clean up the mess from breakfast. He was just finishing the dishes when he heard a noise coming from the living room, he rushed in there quickly and saw Yugi whimpering softly in his sleep. Bakura walked over to him and gently shook him, tying to wake up the small boy. The moment his hands touched Yugi's shoulder, Yugi started to cry and thrashed around violently. Bakura had to duck to avoid getting kicked by Yugi. He tried to wake him again, and this time Yugi woke up. He looked around fearfully and Bakura was really starting to get worried. He kept trying but Yugi refused to look at him, his eyes kept darting around looking everywhere but in Bakura's direction, and then to make matters worse, Yugi started shaking uncontrollably.

Bakura decided to see if Ryou could calm Yugi down, so he quickly ran upstairs. In a matter of minutes, Ryou and Bakura were running back down the stairs and into the living room. Ryou cautiously walked up to Yugi and lightly tapped his leg, but Yugi still refused to meet anyone's gaze. Ryou tried everything he could think of but nothing that either of them tried had worked. Bakura decided to call Yami, since Ryou and he were out of ideas.

"Hello, can I help you?" A voice asked.

"Yeah, this is Bakura I have to speak to Yami," Bakura said urgently, "It's important."

"Okay," The voice replied, "Hold on a second, I'll transfer you." There was a click then the phone started ringing.

"WHAT!" Yami yelled.

"Yami?" Bakura asked.

"Bakura?" Yami said surprised, "What's wrong?"

"It's Yugi, he had a nightmare and neither Ryou nor myself can calm him down." Bakura explained quickly, "he is sitting in there just freaking out, I am really worried especially after what happened this morning. I tried to get him to look at me but he refused. I really think you need to get back here now."

"All right, I'm on way," Yami replied quickly. "Bye."

"See ya soon, bye." Bakura hung up the phone and went back into the living room. He saw Yugi didn't move at all since Bakura had left the room.

Yugi was sitting in the chair with his knees brought up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. Ryou was sitting next to him looking very worried. Yugi was rocking back and forth with tears flowing down his face. Bakura tried once again to get Yugi to look at him, and once again Yugi refused. Bakura was thankful when he heard the front door open. He got up from beside Yugi, with Ryou following and walked over to meet Yami.

"Yami, I am so glad your back." Bakura said relieved. "He still won't respond to me. He just sits there hugging his knees and rocking back and forth."

"Okay Bakura I'll go and calm him down," Yami said, then he turned and went into the living room. 'Bakura wasn't kidding, poor Yugi, he looked so frightened.'

Yami walked up to Yugi and put his hand on Yugi's leg, at first Yugi flinched, his mind was trapped in the past once again. Yami tried to catch Yugi's gaze with his fingers and was relieved when Yugi's eyes followed them until he was looking Yami directly in the eyes.

"Yugi, its all right, I'm here now." Yami said quietly making sure Yugi didn't look away. "You're safe now. It's okay." Yugi blinked his eyes coming out of his trance and saw Yami standing there, he jumped into Yami's arms and started crying uncontrollably. Yami just held him while rubbing his back soothingly.

Bakura peaked into the living room and smiled at the scene. 'Well at least Yugi will open up to Yami, I just wish I could have helped him also.'

Yami continued to hold Yugi until his crying stopped. Yami tapped his shoulder. Yugi looked up tearfully. "Are you okay? Did you have another nightmare?" Yami asked gently.

Yugi shook his head, then leaned against Yami again resting his head on Yami's shoulder. Yami held him tightly. Finally, Yugi looked up at Yami and smiled. Yami returned the smile.

"Are you hungry, want some lunch?" Yami asked. Again Yugi nodded. Yami got up off the floor and turned to go into the kitchen, he turned around surprised when he felt something touch his hand. He looked back to see Yugi holding his hand smiling up at him. They walked into the kitchen hand in hand.

Bakura walked up to Yugi and kneeled down, Yugi tried to look away but Bakura gently held his chin. "Are you okay little one?" He asked sincerely.

Yugi nodded shyly and hid behind Yami.

Bakura was confused. "Yami what's wrong?" he questioned. "Yesterday Yugi was comfortable around me, why is he scared of me today?"

"I don't think it's you he's afraid of, " Yami explained, "I think his nighmare caused him to have another flashback."

Yami led Yugi to the table and sat him down. Just as they were about to eat, Marik and Malik came back from their walk. Yami pulled Malik aside and told him about what happened earlier. Malik listened but smiled when he heard that Yami was able to calm him down after the nightmare and flashback. When Yami and Malik returned, everyone finished eating their lunches in silence. Bakura and Ryou kept looking at Yugi worriedly. When they finished their lunch. Everyone tried to decide what to do next. Marik and Malik went into the living room to watch a movie.

Bakura walked over to where Yami was standing, "So what are you guys going to do?"

"I don't know yet," Yami replied, the he turned to Yugi, "You want to go to the park?"

Yugi looked confused, he had never been to a park before so he didn't know what it was.

After Malik explain what kinds of things were at a park, Yugi's eyes lit up and he nodded yes. "I guess we're going to the park," Yami stated, "You guys want to come too?"

Bakura looked at Ryou, "Yeah we'll come too, sounds like fun, right Ryou?"

"Yeah, lets go." Ryou said happily.

The four of them set off for the park. No one really said anything on the walk there. Yugi was holding Yami's hand and happily skipping down the sidewalk, While Yami was smiling at him.

Bakura and Ryou were talking quietly amongst themselves. "Yugi sure is happier now that Yami came home from work." Stated Ryou, "By the way he's acting now you never would have guessed that a few moments ago he was shaking and in tears."

"Yeah, I just wish that he felt comfortable around me also," Bakura said, "Don't get me wrong I am happy that you are going to be living with us, I just wish Yugi wasn't so afraid around me."

When they arrived at the park, they saw a volleyball laying on the ground, so they decided to hit the ball around just for fun and not keep score. Yami and Yugi walked to one side of the net, while Bakura and Ryou took the other side. They had a good volley going until Yugi hit the ball toward Bakura, who was not paying attention and was looking in another direction.

Suddenly, Yami yelled, "Bakura! Look out!" But he wasn't fast enough. Bakura turned to see what Yami was yelling about just in time to get hit right in the face with the ball. At first Yugi looked worried thinking he was going to get in trouble, but then Yami and Ryou started laughing. Bakura tried to look angry but it wasn't working. Yugi just looked around at everyone, confused. Then he saw the face Bakura was making and he started to laugh along with them. Yami and Ryou stopped laughing and looked at Yugi.

Yugi immediately stopped laughing, 'why did they stop laughing? Why are they all staring at me, are they mad at me?' Yugi though. He started to get a worried look on his face. Yami quickly kneeled in front of him. "You're not in trouble Yugi," Yami said, "it's just that this is the first time we have heard you laugh."

Yugi looked around at everyone again, and couldn't help but laugh again. This time everyone joined in, even Bakura.


	4. Its Party Time

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugi or any of the characters.

'Thoughts'

Its Party Time

Marik and Malik were quietly sitting in the living room watching a movie and Marik was just getting comfy when the phone started to ring. Marik paused the movie and grumbled a bit when he went to answer it. He was almost to the kitchen when Yami and the others arrived back home. Marik paused in his steps and turned back toward the living room when he heard the kitchen door close and, just figured that Yami would answer it since he was closer. When Marik returned to the livingroom, Malik looked at him strangely, "I thought you went to get the phone?" he asked him curiously, "and why do you have that grin on your face?"

Marik didn't answer right away, and Malik was starting to get annoyed, but then Marik just smiled and pointed to the kitchen just as he heard Yami yelling, "I'll get it, Marik."

Malik looked at Marik and couldn't help but laugh at the dopey smirk he had on his face, "You are so lazy." he said as he playfully slapped the other. Mark was about to make a comment in return, but Yugi and the others walked into the livingroom so he kept quiet.

"Did you guys have fun?" Malik asked when Yugi sat down on the beanbag chair.

Yugi nodded his head while Ryou answered for him as he and Bakura sat on the chair, "Yea, it was great."

"Wasn't go great for me," Bakura said grumbling, but with a smile on his face as he pointed to Yugi, "I got hit in the head with a ball thanks to this little one here."

At first, Yugi looked worried and Ryou noticed right away, "He's just kidding Yugi," he said, while playfully smaking Bakura, "He knows that you didn't mean it, right Bakura?"  
  
Bakura got up and playfully ruffled Yugi's hair, "I was just joking Yugi, I'm not mad at you."

Yugi nodded his head and visibly relaxed, but then he suddenly yawned and realized how tired he still was. He snuggled deeper into the comfortable chair and watched TV.

"Yugi hit you in the head with a ball?" Marik said laughing, "I would've loved to see that."

"That's not even the best part," Ryou said, then after a quick glance to make sure Yugi wasn't watching, then turned to his friend, "Malik you'll never believe what happened today! After Bakura got hit with the ball, we heard Yugi laugh."  
  
Malik was amazed, "He laughed? That's great, I've never heard him laugh before. I'm glad that Yugi is finally happy."

"I know what you mean," Ryou replied, "You know what Malik? I'm happy too."

"Same here, Ryou." Malik commented before returning to watching the TV with Marik, while Ryou and Bakura did the same.

"You guys really like it here?" Bakura asked

Ryou and Malik nodded, and Bakura and Marik smiled.

In the kitchen with Yami:

"I'll get it, Marik." Yami yelled as he picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Yami? Hi, this is Mrs. McGuire," She said, "I was just calling to see how Yugi was doing today."

"Yugi had a bad flashback this morning and a nightmare this afternoon, but after that he was fine and actually started having fun," Yami replied, "We took him and Ryou to the park today and we actually made Yugi laugh, you really should have seen it, it was great."

"He had another flashback, I was hoping he was over those." she said quietly to herself, then she paused for a second before smiling, "Did you say he laughed?", She questioned, "That's wonderful. You know I wasn't really sure about letting you take Yugi in the beginning, but after hearing this, you may be just what he needs. Who knows he might even fully recover, wouldn't that be great. You say he still is uncomfortable around Bakura and Marik? and how are Malik and Ryou doing"

"Yeah he is. Bakura had to call me at work because Yugi had another nightmare and wouldn't let anyone but me near him. I think part of it had to do with his flashback this morning, he was acting nervous all day and didn't finally relax unitl we took him to the park and he played with his friends. Malik and Ryou are doing great. Bakura found a cooking partner, and Marik found someone else in his quest to annoy Bakura." Yami started laughing at that part, "It's really amazing how far along Yugi has come in such a short period of time and it would be great if he fully recovered and I think he's had a great start so far, I just want him to be happy." Yami replied, "So is that all you called about?"

"No, I just wanted you to know that Yugi's birthday is tomorrow. He'll be 10 years old. Ryou and Malik's birthday's are next month, and they'll both be turning 11. I just wanted to tell you that because kids, in their situations, don't get birthday parties from their parents. Instead they get abandonment and abuse, and I just thought it would be a great way for those boys to get what other children take for granded, and that's a happy childhood. I also thought it would be a fun way for you guys to get to know the boys better." Mrs. McGuire replied.

"All right, I think we will throw a party for Yugi, that sounds like it would be lots of fun. Well, I have to go now," Yami said, "Thanks for calling."

"Bye Yami," she replied as she hung up the phone.

'Yugi is 10?' Yami thought while also hanging up the phone, 'She had a really great idea, we should throw a party for him tomorrow. It would be fun for Yugi since he's never had one before and it would also be a good project for everyone to get to know each other a little better.'

He walked out of the kitchen to where the others were sitting. Yami smiled at the scene before he entered the livingroom. Marik and Malik were on the couch talking quietly, while Bakura and Ryou were watching TV. Yami then glanced over at Yugi and saw that he was sleeping peacefully once again. Yami walked up to Bakura and whispered in his ear, then over to Marik. They both looked at him confused, but followed him anyway.

Yami led them back into the kitchen. "Guys that was Mrs. McGuire on the phone, she told me that Yugi's birthday is tomorrow, and Ryou's and Malik's are next month. I thought it would be fun to throw Yugi a surprise party." Yami asked.

"If he's still nervous around us, is scaring him by yelling SURPRISE the best idea?" stated Bakura.

"I guess I didn't think of that," replied Yami, "Well then how about just a regular party, Mrs. McGuire told me that he's never had a party before and neither have Ryou and Malik."

"Sounds great." Bakura said, "Ryou and I can make the cake and food."

"Okay," Answered Marik, "Malik and I will get some movies."

"The party was my idea, what am I supposed to do?" questioned Yami.

"Your job," Bakura stated putting his arm around Yami's neck, "Is keeping Yugi from finding out about the party."

With that agreed upon, Bakura went back into the livingroom to find Ryou, when he didn't see him there he looked at Malik, "Do you know where Ryou went?"

"Yea," Malik replied keeping his eyes on the TV, "He went up to his room."

Bakura thanked Malik then headed upstairs, just as Malik said, he found him upstairs drawing on what appeared to be some sort of card. Bakura walked up behind him and tried to see what the other was drawing. When he couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be he decided to tell Ryou about the party

"Hey Ryou, how would you like to help me in the kitchen?" Bakura asked him with a smile

"Sure," Ryou said looking up from his picture, "What do you need help with?"

"It's Yugi's birthday tomorrow and we're going to throw a party for him." Bakura explained. "You and I are on cooking duty."

"A party sounds like fun, of course I'll help." Ryou got up off his chair and followed Bakura downstairs. They went through the kitchen making a list of things that they needed for the party, after they made the list, Bakura yelled, "We'll be right back guys." as he and Ryou walked out the door.

Marik checked the first place he thought of to find Malik, the livingroom, and sure enough when he walked in there he found Malik sitting on the couch watching another movie. Marik smirked and walked up to the younger boy and leaned against the couch, waiting until he had the others attention.

"Hey Malik, want to go to the store with me?" He asked, "We're planning a party for Yugi and we're renting movies."

"Yeah, I'll come with ya." Malik answered but didn't move from his spot on the couch.

"Well," Marik asked annoyed, getting ready to go outside, "are you coming or not?"

"Oh," Malik replied slowly starting to get up off the couch, "I didn't know you meant now."

Marik just sighed at the younger, "Just get your butt off that couch and let's go before all the good movies are gone."

Then they both walked to the door.

"We'll be right back Yami." Marik yelled.

Yami tried to think of what he could do to keep Yugi from finding out about the party. He was so deep in thought, that when he felt a hand touch his arm, he jumped. Yami turned around quickly when he heard laughing, and saw Yugi. Yugi had his hand covering his mouth trying to hide his laughter. Yami smiled at him.

"You think that's funny?" Yami said smiling.

Yugi nodded his head.

"I'll get you for that." Yami said smirking playfully. Yugi saw the look on Yami's face, and ran in the other direction laughing. Yami, also laughing, ran after Yugi playfully chasing him.

Yugi ran to the front door and bolted outside with Yami right on his heels. Yugi turned around to see how close Yami was to him, then as he turned the corner, he found what he thought was a good hiding place and hid in an alleyway. Yugi smiled as Yami ran past the alley, not knowing he was hiding there. Yugi peeked his head out of the alley and saw Yami run around the next corner. Yugi smiled knowing he played a trick on Yami.

Yugi was about to walk out of the alley when suddenly a hand covered his mouth and an arm dragged him back into the darkness of the alley. Yugi started whimpering and struggling trying to get away. The tall stocky man just picked him up and slammed him hard into the brick wall. Yugi started crying wishing Yami was here as the guy hit Yugi in the stomach to shut him up. Yugi just shut his eyes and cried harder. An extremely hard hit to the face caused Yugi to open his eyes wide as tears streamed down his face.

"Shut up," The man screamed, delivering another blow to the young boys already painful stomach.The guy was about to hit Yugi again when a voice behind him made him turn around.

"Put him down NOW!" said a dangerous voice.

"Make me." Said the guy, then to prove his point, punched Yugi in the face once again.

That made Bakura even more angry as he ran up to the guy and knocked him off Yugi, who curled up into a ball, crying and shivering uncontrollably. Bakura took out his anger on the man and continued punching him harder until the attacker was knocked out. Then as Bakura passed him he kicked him in the ribs. Bakura walked over to where Yugi was still on the ground, and gently put his hand on Yugi's shoulder, at first Yugi flinched, then he raised his head and tearfully looked up.

When Yugi saw that it was Bakura, he fell forward into his chest sobbing and wrapped his arms tightly around Bakura's neck like he was his last hope. Bakura was startled at first but then wrapped his arms around Yugi, rubbing circles on his back trying to calm him down. Eventually, Yugi's calmed down, but refused to release his hold on Bakura. He carefully picked Yugi up and started to head for home. When he came out of the alley, he saw Yami running up to him.

"What happened?" Yami asked worriedly.

"I was coming back from the store cause I forgot the list and I heard fighting." Bakura explained "I went into the alley and found this guy beating up Yugi, so I took care of the guy."

"Is Yugi okay?" Yami asked looking at Yugi worried.

"I think so, he finally calmed down, but he won't loosen his hold on me." said Bakura.

Yami followed Bakura as they made their way back home, Yami glanced sadly at the small form in Bakura's arms. He sighed in relief when the house was finally in sight and followed Bakura as he brought Yugi into the bathroom to clean him up. Yami sat down on the floor and Bakura set Yugi down on his lap, then grabbed a washcloth to help clean the boy up. Yami lifted Yugi's shirt carefully and gasped when he saw all the bruises and blood that covered his small chest. Yami grabbed the washcloth from Bakura and started to clean the blood off Yugi's face.

Yugi whimpered and opened his eyes, he tearfully looked up and saw Yami and Bakura looking at him worriedly. He sat up and grabbed tightly onto Yami hiding his face in his chest and started to cry again while Yami gently rubbed his back. After Yugi got cleaned up and calmed down again, he got up off Yami's lap and walked over to Bakura who looked at him curiously. Yugi looked up and smiled at Bakura giving him a big hug, which Bakura happily returned.

After a few minutes Bakura pulled away from the hug and kneeled down in front of Yugi, "Are you okay little one?" He asked quietly and for once Yugi didn't look away.

Yugi wiped his eyes and nodded.

"That's good. I have to get back to the store." Bakura said standing up, "I left Ryou there, I was coming back cause I kind of forgot the list." embarrassed, Bakura got up and left the bathroom. That comment made Yami remember about the party. 'I have to keep Yugi busy so that everyone can get ready for the party.'

Yami tapped Yugi's shoulder and Yugi looked at him and smiled which Yami returned.

"You want to go to the park for awhile?" Yami asked.

Yugi nodded again and followed Yami out of the bathroom. After Yugi was cleaned up and changed into different clothes, they left the house and headed back to the park.

Bakura and Ryou finished their shopping and headed back to the house. They opened the door quietly and sighed in relief when they saw that no one was home. Once in the kitchen, Bakura decided to make the cake first so it would have time to cool down before the party. Just as Bakura was putting the cake in the oven Ryou heard the door open, so he peaked around the corner to see who had come in. He sighed again when he saw that it was just Marik and Malik returning from the movie rental store down the road.

"You guys scared the daylights out of us." Ryou exclaimed, "I thought you guys were Yami and Yugi coming home early."

"Nope," Marik replied grinning, while he and Malik decided to get into the kitchen to see what the two of them were doing,"its just us."

By the time Yami and Yugi had returned, they almost had everything ready for the party and hidden where Yugi couldn't find it. They knew he wouldn't go snooping around because he wasn't expecting anything, his parents have never given him a birthday party.

After an early dinner, Bakura, Ryou, Marik and Malik went to the mall to get Yugi a present, while Yami and Yugi went into the living room to sit down. Yami found the remote stuck in the seat cushion as he started channel surfing, he was slightly surprised when he felt Yugi crawl into his lap and sit down, but he didn't mind, he just looked down and smiled at Yugi. Yugi leaned back and rested against Yami, who just wrapped his arms tighter around the small boy.

By the time the group arrived home, Yugi was sound asleep on Yami's lap. Everyone decided that since tomorrow was going to be a busy day they all went to bed early, soYami carried Yugi to bed and gently laid him down.

In the middle of the night Yugi was once again woken up from a terrible nightmare. He sat up quickly and scanned the room with frightened eyes while his body was shivering. Yugi quietly go out of his bed and slowy made his way across the hall to Yami's room. When he entered, he went to the sleeping Yami and gently shook his shoulder. Yami stirred when he felt somone shaking him and he rolled over, he sat up quickly when he noticed Yugi in his room.

"Yugi, are you okay?" Yami asked worriedly, "Did you have another nightmare?"

Yugi nodded his head sadly. Yami smiled at him and moved over on the bed, lifting up a corner of the covers, when Yugi saw that he smiled at Yami and climbed into the warm bed. He wrapped his arms around Yami's waist, snuggling closer to the warmth and fell back asleep. Yami also wrapped his arms around Yugi and fell asleep a few minuted later.

The next morning, Yami got up early to help the others to make sure they had everything they needed for the party. As he entered the livingroom, Yami had to smile at the good job that his friends had done. Marik and Malik had decorated the entire livingroom with streamers and balloons in a pale blue and white for Yugi's first birthday party. They had even decorated the chair special for Yugi so that he could sit there when he opened his presents.

The food that Bakura and Ryou made the day before was set on the decorated table against the far wall, and along side it, was the birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake with 'Happy Birthday' written on it is a childs handwritting, while the cake was decorated with blue frosting and had a picture of the Dark Magican in the center.

Yami looked around at his friends as they were putting the finishing touches on the room, "Is there anything else you guys need?" Yami asked.

"Nope, where done on our part." Ryou and Bakura replied.

"Same here." answered Marik, everyone held their breath and looked toward the stairs when they heard a noise and realize someone was coming down. Everyone quickly left the livingroom and shut the doors behind them only to breath a sigh of relief when they found out that it was Malik decending the stairs and not Yugi.

"Everything done?" Malik asked.

"Yea, everything's done." Marik answered for the group.

"Good," Malik replied, "Yugi's starting to wake up."

Yugi woke up and slowly open his eyes as the bright sunlight streamed into the room. He glanced beside him and was surprised to see that Yami wasn't there anymore, so Yugi decided he should get up and see where everyone was. He got out of bed slowly and stretched to help wake up his muscles then he decided look for the others. He checked the bedroooms first and saw that they were all empty, so he headed downstairs.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Yugi decided to check the kitchen first and smiled at the scene. Bakura and Ryou were cooking breakfast, while Malik and Marik were standing by the stove telling them they were doing everything wrong. Finally Bakura had enough, "If you two don't leave me alone right now," he said angrily, "I won't let you have any of this delicious breakfast or any.."

Bakura was cut off suddenly by a jab in the ribs, he was about to yell at Yami but then he saw why he did that. Yugi was standing in the doorway and almost heard about the party. Yami walked over to the young boy and kneeled down in front of him, "Are you hungry?"

Yugi nodded and Yami led him over to the table and sat down beside him. Bakura grumbled under his breath so only Marik could hear and finished making breakfast. He placed the food in front of everyone and sat down. Breakfast was unusually quiet this moring and Yugi couldn't figure out why.

'Why isn't anyone talking?' he thought to himself as he ate his breakfast and watched the others curiously, 'usually they have to yell to be heard over each other, are they mad about something?'

After breakfast, once again it was Yami's job to make sure Yugi didn't find out about the party. Yami took Yugi and decided to go for a walk around the city, they walked to the park, the arcade and the mall until they eventually reached the pier. Yugi looked around in wonder and smiled as he ran down the steps to the beach, with Yami following right behind him. As they neared the bottom, Yugi took off his shoes, rolled up his pants and ran into the warm water. He stayed in the water and played, while trying to coax Yami to come in with him until he finally relented, giving in to Yugi's puppy dog eyes, and joined Yugi in the water. After a few hours of playing, Yami glanced at his watch and saw that it was time for them to go back home. He looked around and spotted Yugi now playing on the sand building sandcastles, he reluctantly walked over to the small boy and tapped his shoulder. Yugi looked up and smiled at Yami, who kneeled down to his height, "We have to go back now," he said sadly, "We can come back and play here another day, alright?" Yugi nodded his head and brushed the sand off of himself, then followed Yami back home.

When they arrived, Yugi looked around and was surprised that he didn't see anyone else around and he looked at Yami curiously. Yami just shrugged his shoulders and started heading toward the livingroom. As they entered, Yugi's eyes widened as he saw the banners and balloons that decorated the place. He looked around the room and was amazed by all the food he saw neatly set up on a table with a birthday cake just for him beside it. Yugi had tears in his eyes as he ran to all of his friends giving them all hugs in thanks for the great surprise they had given him. Yami walked up to the small boy and led him to the chair that was decorated just for him. When Yugi sat down, Yami walked over to the table and started making up a plate of food for him. Yugi nodded his thanks and happily ate the delicious food that Bakura and Ryou had made just for him. After everyone had eaten, Yami and Bakura carried the cake to Yugi and set it down in front of him. Yugi looked at the cake and had tears in his eyes again as his friends sang "Happy Birthday" to him in voice and sign language. Yugi couldn't remember the last time that he was this happy, and he couldn't imagine anything making this day even better than it already was, so he was really surprised when everyone started handing him presents on top of everything he had already recieved. Yugi smiled as he cheerfully opened his presents from everyone. He received a DM plushie from Malik, a new black leather jacket from Marik, and a puppy from Bakura and Ryou . Just when Yugi thought the party was over, Yami walked up to Yugi and kneeled down in front of the young boy. He looked Yugi in the eye and asked him, "Yugi, do you want to stay with me?" Yami asked, "I mean, would you object if I wanted to adopt you?"


	5. Yugi Speaks

1

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugi or any of the characters.

'Thoughts'

(Yugi talks in 3rd person, and has a speech problem)

Yugi Speaks

Yugi sat in shock for a few minutes, he couldn't believe what Yami had just asked him,'Yami wants to adopt me,' Yugi thought, 'I can't believe it. He really wants me to stay with him forever.' Yugi thought that he was dreaming, he always thought that if his own parents didn't want him that no one else would. 'Yami has given me so much already; first he has given me friendship, then a party and wonderful presents, and now a home. How could I possibly ask for anything more.'

With tears of joy running down his small face, Yugi leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Yami's neck. At first Yami was startled, but then he returned the loving embrace, but nothing could've prepared him for what Yugi would do next. Yugi rested his head on Yami's shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"Th..thank you a..'ami, yo..you ma..made Yu..Yugi happy," Yugi stuttered softly, "Hai, Yu..yugi l..love to st..stay here. Yu..Yugi want 'Ami for da..daddy."

Yami was touched by the loving words that Yugi spoke to him, he gently pulled Yugi away from him and looked into his eyes. "You can speak! Yugi that's wonderful!"

Yugi nodded happily and crawled into Yami's lap and embraced him once again. Everyone in the room smiled, this turned out better than anyone had planned. Yugi finally got the one thing in the world that he really wanted, a family.

'Wow,' Thought Bakura, 'Yugi actually spoke, maybe Yami taking him in did both of them good.'

Yugi finally let go of Yami and then ran to Bakura and Marik hugging them both also.

"Th..thank for he..help 'kura." whispered Yugi

Bakura smiled at him and hugged him back. "You're very welcome Little one."

After the party, Yugi, Ryou, and Malik went into Yugi's room to play with the puppy while Yami, Bakura and Marik cleaned up the mess in the livingroom. After they were finished cleaning up, Bakura walked up to Yami and put his arm around his neck, "That was a really good thing you did," He said, "Did you see how happy Yugi looked?"

"Yeah," Yami nodded, "I really love having him here, What about you guys?"

"What about us?" Bakura asked confused, "We love having him here too."

"I mean what about Malik and Ryou?"Yami explained.

"I love having them here also..." Bakura explained "I think we should ask them to stay here also."

"I agree." Replied Marik. "Now that their here, I can't imagine this house without them. I guess I never realized how much fun it is to have kids running around the house."

"Good," Yami said, "Then that's settled, lets go find them and ask them right now."

Before they headed upstairs, Marik stopped Yami, "Yami, do you think Yugi's speech problem has to do with him not talking before, or what his parents did to him?"

"I don't know," Yami admitted, "Maybe we should take him to a doctor and find out for sure."

"I think that's a good idea." Bakura replied.

The three got up and went to see what the other's were doing. As they approached the top of the stairs they heard laughter coming from Yugi's room. They stood in the door way and smiled at the scene. Yugi was chasing the puppy around the room, while it ran onto Malik and Ryou knocking them both down, and they fell to the floor laughing. Yugi also laughing, kept trying to catch the puppy.

"Ma..matte! Te..tenshi, come he..here!." Yugi said. Yugi was so into his chase that he wasn't watching where he was going, and as the puppy ran out his room, Yugi chased after him. Until he suddenly ran into Yami knocking them both to the ground. Yugi sat up on the floor and rubbed his head. Yami was the first to get up, and he reached out a hand to help Yugi, and he couldn't help himself, he had to laugh at the face that Yugi was making. Yugi looked up and saw who he ran into. Yugi blushed and grabbed the offered hand and got to his feet.

"Go..gomen 'ami," Yugi whispered, "Yugi n..no watch were go..going."

"Its okay Yugi. What did you name him?" Yami asked.

"Te..tenshi." Yugi replied smiling.

Yami thought for a second, "I like that name, its cute."

Yugi smiled at Yami again and then turned around, "Te..tenshi go down, Yugi go find her." And with that Yugi went downstairs in search of his little friend.

Yami walked into Yugi's room to see Ryou and Malik getting off the ground, still laughing. They noticed Yami and the others walk in. They calmed down when Yami walked up to them.

"Ryou, Malik how would you guys like to live here permanently with us?" Yami asked.

Malik and Ryou nodded happily and both of them hugged Yami and the others.

"Come on Malik," Ryou said, "Let's tell Yugi the great news." They both ran from the room and headed downstairs. Just then the phone rang, Yami being closest answered it.

"Hello?" Yami asked.

"Yami hi its Mrs McGuire." She answered, "How are things over there today?"

"Couldn't be better." Yami replied, "We asked the boys to live here with us, and they very happily agreed. I also have really good news, Yugi spoke to us today."

"Yugi spoke?" She asked, "That's wonderful. When ever you guys are ready just come down here and fill out the forms for adoption."

"Well first Yugi has to catch his present, then we'll be down there." Yami said.

"What do you mean catch his present?" She asked curiously.

"We got him a puppy for his birthday and he loves it, he just chased it into the livingroom." Yami replied.

"Really," She said laughing, "it sounds like he is really happy there, I am so glad."

"I do have one question for you," Yami asked, "Yugi has a speech problem and he talks in third person, is that because he's never spoken before or is it a result of his injury?"

"More than likely it's a little of both," she replied, "we can have a doctor check him out if you wish."

"Let's see what Yugi wants to do first," Yami answered, "then we'll decide."

They said there goodbyes and Yami hung up the phone. He headed into the livingroom to see what the Yugi was up to. When he entered, he found Yugi sitting on the couch with the puppy in his lap sleeping, and Malik and Ryou were sitting on the floor, petting the puppy. Yugi looked up when he noticed someone enter the room. He smiled when he saw Yami.

"I see you caught him." Yami asked laughing. Yugi nodded and gently laid Tenshi on the couch and walked over to Yami.

"Mrs. McGuire called, we're heading to the orphanage in a few minutes to fill out the paperwork to adopt you guys." Yami said.

Yugi gave Yami another hug which Yami happily returned.

"Th..thank you much 'ami," Yugi whispered, "Th..this best birtday Yugi ever h..had." Yugi then saddened for a minute, "Ac..actuawy th..this first birtday Yugi ever h..had."

Yami just held him tightly, then bend down to Yugi's level and said to him, "Well now you get to enjoy many more birthdays and finally have the kind of life you deserve." Yugi had tears of happiness in his eyes when Yami said that. They both smiled and Yami held out his hand which Yugi took. They went into the kitchen to find the others.

Soon, everyone was ready and they all piled into the car. Yami smiled as he watched the boys in the back seat. They were playing a game and laughing. Yami looked over to Bakura and Marik and noticed both of them smiling also.

"We should go out and celebrate." Yami said.

"Yeah, sound's like fun," Bakura replied, "What do you guys want to do?"

"How about go somewhere for dinner?" Marik suggested. "No I know, how about a picnic in the park?"

"A picnic sounds like fun," Ryou said happily, "We've never been on a picnic before."

"Alright, a picnic it is." Bakura said laughing.

They decided to go on the picnic as a celebration after they filled out the paperwork to legally adopt the three boys.

When they arrived at the orphanage, they boys ran out of the car and into the building with Yami, Bakura and Marik were right behind them.

Yugi saw Mrs. McGuire and gave her a hug. She was confused at first by the show of affection from the usually quiet and withdrawn boy, but returned the hug anyway.

"Th..thank you.." Yugi whispered, "Th..thank you for br..brining 'ami to Yugi."

Mrs. McGuire was shocked at first, she never heard him speak before. Then she kneeled down in front of the boy and replied, "You're very welcome Yugi, as long as your happy." Yugi nodded and hugged her again. Yami walked up to Yugi and placed his hand on Yugi's shoulder, Yugi turned around and smiled at Yami.

Mrs. McGuire led the small boys into the playroom, while Yami and the others filled out the necessary paperwork. They were just about done when a man and woman walked into the office. He was a stocky man with black hair and crimson eyes. The female was on the shorter side with amenyst eyes and blonde hair. Yami could smell the alcohol on both of them from where he sat and it disgusted him that people like that would want to adopt a child.

'they probably just want the kid to be their slave,' Yami thought to himself, 'there's no way they could be doing it out of love.'

"Can I help you?" Mrs. McGuire asked.

"Yeah," The man replied sneering, "You can give me my brat back."

"Your brat?" She asked cautiously. "Who exactly are you looking for?"

"Yugi." The man answered, Yami, Bakura and Marik noticeably tensed. "I did my time and I took those stupid classes and now I want my brat back."

"You can't have him," Yami said angrily. "He's happy with me and I'm adopting him."

The man stormed up to Yami, "Look here, he's my kid and I want him back. You can't stop me I'm his father."

Yami was beyond mad now, "HIS FATHER!! What kind of father beats his own kid and gets him sent to the hospital in a coma?"

"That's none of you business, now are you going to hand the brat over or do I have to get the law involved?" The man replied. Yami was stuck. He knew that the man had the law on his side.

He turned to Mrs. McGuire, "Isn't there anything we can do?" He asked fearfully.

"You do not have the law on your side this time, Mr. Mouto, after what you did to Yugi, no jury in their right mind would let you have him back." She replied, "Especially when he's finally starting to recover and has the chance to live a happy life with Yami and that's where Yugi wants to be. Now are you going to leave quietly or should I have the police escort you out."

"Recover?" the man asked angrily, "what do you mean recover?"  
  
"He's finally comfortable around people again," Mrs. McGuire replied firmly, "and for the first time he gets to just be a kid, which is what he's supposed to be."

It was silent for a few minutes and then they heard a whimper from behind them. Everyone turned around and saw Yugi in the doorway shaking and with tears in his eyes. His father started to walk toward him, but Yami got to him first and picked him up, holding him close and away from his father. Yugi fearfully clung onto Yami tightly, hiding his face in Yami's shirt. Yami glanced over his shoulder, glaring at the man claiming to be Yugi's father. Yami then carried Yugi out of the room, ignoring the protest from Yugi's so-called father. Yami carried Yugi down the hall until found an empty room. He walked over to the couch and placed Yugi gently in his lap. Yugi sat in his lap and cried into his shoulder while Yami tried to soothe the frightened youth. When Yugi finally calmed down he tearfully looked up at Yami.

"Don't worry Yugi," Yami said while continuing to comfort the small boy, "We won't let him anywhere near you, you're safe with us. Bakura, Marik and I won't let anything happen to you."

Yugi nodded his head and then nuzzled into the crook of Yami's neck. Yami still held him, rocking him back and forth. They stayed that way and were still in the same position when Bakura and Marik found them. Bakura walked up to Yami and asked, "Is he going to be okay?" Yugi looked up and smiled when he saw who was with him. 'I feel so safe when they're around.' Yugi thought, ' I want to stay with them, I don't want to go back to him.'

"Yeah," Yami replied, "I think seeing his father just brought back some unhappy memories, I told him that he's safe with us and we wouldn't let anything happen to him."

Bakura nodded, "You got that right, that man comes anywhere near Yugi and he'll have to deal with me."

"And," Replied Marik, "If he somehow got past you then he has to deal with me."

Yugi got up off Yami's lap and walked over to Bakura and Marik. He smiled at both of them, then he hugged them whispering a stuttered'thank you' over and over again. Then Yugi walked back to Yami and crawled back into his lap again. He nuzzled in the crook of Yami's neck and fell asleep.

They walked back to where Mrs. McGuire was waiting. She had a worried look on her face that Yami didn't like. He handed Yugi to Bakura, knowing that this was probably something Yugi didn't need to hear right now. Bakura understood and took Yugi into another room.

"What's wrong?" Yami asked.

"Yugi's father has called a lawyer, he wants to fight for custody of Yugi." She replied.

"What are his chances or getting Yugi?" Yami asked worriedly.

"Actually, slim to none." She replied, "but that's not what worries me."

"Then tell me what's wrong." Yami stated.

"It's Yugi I am worried about.." She said, "he's going to have to take the stand and tell what his father did to him, I don't know if he can handle it yet. Who knows what reliving that nightmare will do to the poor boy, especially since he just started to open up and talking to people again."

"Given his circumstance, do you think they would let me go up there with him?" Yami asked, "As long as I don't influence his answer in anyway."

"In some cases that's allowed, I'm sure the judge would allow it, you'll have to ask him," She said, "Now I suggest you get a lawyer also and get started right away so you have plenty of time to prepare." Yami nodded at her then went in search of his group. He found Bakura and a still sleeping Yugi in the small family room, and Marik was with the boys still in the play room.

Yami waited until they arrived back home before telling Marik and Bakura about what he learned. He gently took Yugi from Bakura and carried him to his room. He laid Yugi down on his bed and covered him up, giving him a loving kiss on his forehead. Yugi stirred by didn't awaken. Yami stood back up and watched the young boy sleep for a few minutes.

"Don't worry Yugi, I won't let that man anywhere near you." Yami whispered brushing his blond bangs away from his small face, "I have the best lawyers around and I won't stop fighting until your far away from that man and safe here with me." Tenshi ran into the room and jumped on Yugi's bed then laid down beside the sleeping boy in a protective manner. Yami patted the puppy's head then went back downstairs.

Before joining the others, Yami decided to call his lawyer first.

"So you see, Mr. Larson, I need you to get started on this case right away." Yami explained what happened at the orphanage and told him everything he knew about Yugi.

"I see," Mr. Larson said, "don't worry from the sounds of it, there is no way that guy is getting custody of Yugi. I will get everything ready on this end, but I will need to speak to Yugi to get his story as soon as possible and to prepare him for this case."

"That might be the hard part," Yami replied, "As a result of what his father did, Yugi is very scared and nervous around people. He also has trouble talking, I don't know if it's because he never talked before or because of what his father did to him. By the way, is there a chance that when Yugi takes the stand, I can be up there with him? I won't influence his answers in anyway, he's going to be so scared up there and he trusts me."

"I don't see why not, but you'll have to ask the judge." Mr. Larson answered, "but usually in cases like this, the judge will allow it for the comfort of the boy. I will get started on this end then when I am done I would like to meet with you and Yugi to get everything ready."

"Alright, call me when you're ready." Yami said. They both said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. Yami walked to the living room to talk with Bakura and Marik. He went over to Malik and Ryou and asked them if they could be alone for a few minutes. Not understanding the situation they reluctantly left the room.

Yami explained what his lawyer had said and what they are planning to do. He knew that Marik and Bakura would stand by him through this, but they were worried about how this would affect Yugi.

"Mr. Larson said that because of what his father did, he has a slim to no chance of getting custody of Yugi."

"That's good, but does Yugi really have to take the stand?" Bakura asked.

"Yeah," Yami replied, "I'm going to ask the judge if I can go to the stand with him for emotional support."

"He should let you," Bakura commented, "I don't know how Yugi would get through this if he had to sit up there alone."

"I know," Yami admitted," That's what I'm afraid of."

For the next few weeks Mr. Larson got everything ready for the upcoming trial. He called Yami and set up an appointment to meet with him and Yugi. Yami was dreading telling the small boy he would have to take the stand so he put it off as long as he possibly could, but when his lawyer called, he knew that he had to talk to Yugi now and he dreaded it. He went into Yugi's room and saw him sitting on the floor playing with Tenshi. Yugi looked up and smiled at Yami. Yami returned the smile and walked over to Yugi's bed and sat down, patting the spot next to him. Yugi got off the floor and sat next to Yami.

"A..'ami," Yugi whispered, "Wh..what wrong?" Yami sighed and picked up Yugi and placed him sideways in his lap. Yugi snuggled up closer and rested his head on Yami's shoulder. Yami smiled briefly, but it faded fast when he remembered what he had to tell the small boy.

"Yugi, I hate to tell you this but your father is taking us to trial for custody of you." Yami looked carefully at Yugi for his reaction. Tears started to well up in his big amethyst eyes and Yami just held him close gently rocking the scared boy back and forth.

"Yu..Yugi no wa..want him for da..daddy, Yu..Yugi wa..want you." Yugi whispered tearfully. Yami smiled at Yugi's loving words, but he knew there was more that he had to tell Yugi, so when he then noticed that Yugi was staring at the ground, he gently lifted Yugi's chin so he was looking into his eyes.

"I don't want him to be your daddy either, Yugi," Yami started, "but you're going to have to take the stand and tell the judge what your father did to you." Yugi started to cry and shake violently.

"Its okay Yugi, I'm going to ask the judge if I can stand next to you while you tell your story." Yami said soothingly, "And remember that Bakura, Marik and I love you and we won't let anything happen to you."

Yugi nodded tearfully but refused to release his hold on Yami, so he just rocked the boy until he finally calmed down and fell asleep. Yami gently lay the small boy down and let the room quietly. He went back downstairs and saw his friends looking at him worriedly.

"How's he doing?" Bakura asked

"He's scared, which is to be expected, but he knows that we won't let anything happen to him." Yami replied.

That night, once again, Yugi came into Yami's room in the middle of the night. Yami, silently, just pulled back the covers and Yugi immediately crawled into the bed and snuggled closer to Yami, using his chest for a pillow. Yami just smiled at the small boy and held him close as Yugi started shaking again, until he finally calmed down again and was able to go to sleep.

The next day Mr. Larson showed up at the house to prepare for the trial next week. He sat down with Yugi who refused to let go of Yami. Mr. Larson told them what to expect and what was going to happen. Mr. Larson tried to talk to Yugi but he would just hide his face in Yami's shirt and refused to look at him. It took Yami quite a few times before Yugi would look at him so that the lawyer could ask his questions.

"Now Yugi," Mr. Larson started when he saw that Yugi was looking at him, "I'll just go over the questions that will be asked during the trial so you know what to expect."

Yugi nodded his head but tightened his hold on Yami as he started shaking again. Yami noticed this and just held the boy to reassure him.

"Yugi, tell me what your life was like living with your father." Mr. Larson asked.

Yugi looked at Yami, who smiled at him, then he answered in a quiet voice, "Yu..Yugi daddy make Yu..Yugi sleep basement. On..only come ou..out when da..daddy say. Da..daddy only l..let Yu..Yugi out when ho..house need cleaning or when Yu..Yugi needed to be taught le..lesson."

"You're doing great Yugi," Mr. Larson replied, "What kind of lesson?"

"Wh..When Yugi no clean go..good enough, da..daddy hit Yu..Yugi."

"Is that what you got sent to the hospital for?"

Yugi nodded, "N..no not just for th..that, Yu..Yugi daddy hit with mo..more than just hands."

Mr. Larson wanted to ask what Yugi meant by that but he could tell that the questions were really upsetting him so he decided to go to another question, "How many times has he sent you to the hospital?"  
  
Yugi thought about it for a second before replying, "Yu..Yugi go ho..hospital many times, mo..more than s..six Yugi thinks."

Yami and Mr. Larson were both appalled by Yugi's answer but it was Mr. Larson who found his voice first, "What did you get sent to the hospital for?"  
  
"Yu..Yugi no clean good en..enough," Yugi replied quietly, "Da..daddy throw Yu..Yugi down st..stairs and hit Yu..Yugi with bat until Yu..Yugi knocked out."

Yugi started trembling worse with each question the lawyer asked, Yami wrapped his arms around the small boy to comfort him." Can we stop for the day?" he asked nervously, "I think he's had enough for the day."

Mr. Larson saw the young boy trembling in Yami's arms and understood immediately, "Alright, we can stop for the day."  
  
Yami nodded thankfully, he picked Yugi up in his arms and walked Mr. Larson to the door.

"I'll call you later," Mr. Larson said, "there's still some things we need to go over before the trial starts."

Mr. Larson looked sadly at the small, scared boy in Yami's arms and his heart went out to the young boy as he said his goodbyes and left the house. Just as the door shut, Bakura walked into the room and saw Yugi shaking violently in Yami's arms and he grew concerned.

"Is he okay?" Bakura asked worried.

"Yeah, the questions were really hard on him," Yami replied looking sadly at the small boy trembling in his arms, "I"m going to take him upstairs and see if he'll lay down."

Yami gently carried Yugi up to his bedroom and lay down with him until his trembling had stopped, and any worries Yami had about Yugi sleeping vanished when Yugi fell asleep almost instantly since he was so emotionally drained.

The week went too fast for poor Yugi's taste and soon the trial day was here. Yugi was shaking violently by the time they reached the courthouse. Bakura, Marik, Ryou and Malik sat behind Yugi, while Yami sat right next to him. Before the trial started Yami asked to approach the bench told the judge about Yugi's situation. The judge agreed to let Yami stand by Yugi as long as he didn't influence Yugi's answers in anyway.

Mr. Larson and Yugi's fathers lawyer, Mr. Hirishimo started with their opening arguments, both stating where they think the best place for Yugi would be.

Mr. Larson then stood up, "I call Yugi Mouto to the stand." Yami tapped Yugi's shoulder to get his attention and told him what was going on. Yugi started to shaking but walked to the stand, he refused to let go of Yami's hand as he took his seat. The bailiff came up with the bible and asked if he swore to tell the truth.

"Yu..Yugi swear." Yugi whispered. The judge had to lean over to hear Yugi's response. Mr. Larson walked up to Yugi and started his questions.

"Yugi," He said trying get the boys attention, Yugi wouldn't look at him so finally Yami had to tap his shoulder. Yugi looked at Yami and then Yami pointed to the lawyer. Finally, Yugi looked at Mr. Larson.

"Yugi," Mr. Larson began again, "Tell me what happened that got you taken away from your father."

Yugi shivered and lowered his head, "Yu..Yugi daddy be..beat Yugi." He whispered, tears starting to fall down his face, "Yu..Yugi go h-hospital, when da..daddy hit Yugi with ba..bat." Yugi broke down crying and clung to Yami as tight as he could as the memories of that night came flooding back to him. Yami knew that they weren't finished with the questions so he needed Yugi to look at the lawyer. Yugi tearfully looked up again, he tried to duck his head but Yami wouldn't let him.

"Yugi?" Mr. Larson continued when he saw Yugi looking at him, "You're doing fine Yugi, just a few more questions okay?" Yugi nodded.

"How long did this go on for and can you please tell me the extent of your injuries?" He asked.

Yugi nodded, burying his face once again in Yami's shirt. "Yu..Yugi I..in coma for th..th..three months," Yugi started to shake violently, Yami held him trying to comfort the scared boy. "Yu..Yugi deaf in bo..both ears, Yugi st..still have n..nightmares al..almost e..every night." Yugi whispered.

"You're doing fine Yugi," Mr Larson told the scared boy, "we're almost done."  
  
"Yugi, tell me what your life was like living with your father." Mr. Larson asked.

Yugi looked at Yami, who smiled at him, then he answered in a quiet voice, "Yu..Yugi daddy make Yu..Yugi sleep basement. On..only come ou..out when da..daddy say. Da..daddy only l..let Yu..Yugi out when ho..house need cleaning or when Yu..Yugi needed to be taught le..lesson."

"What kind of lesson?" Mr. Larson asked

"Wh..When Yugi no clean go..good enough, da..daddy hit Yu..Yugi."

"How many times has he sent you to the hospital?" Mr. Larson asked  
  
Yugi thought about it for a second before replying, "Yu..Yugi go ho..hospital many times, mo..more than s..six Yugi thinks."

"You're doing just fine Yugi," Mr. Larson told the frightened boy, "After you left your father, did you go straight to the orphanage?"

"N....no," Yugi whispered, "Yu..Yugi go d..d..different home, but Yu..Yugi no like it th..there."

"And why didn't you like it there?" he asked

"Th..they m..mean to Yugi." Yugi responded quietly

"Who was mean to you?" Mr. Larson asked, "The foster parents or the other children?"

"B..both." whispered the small boy

"How about where you are now," asked Mr. Larson, "How do you like living with Yami?"

Yugi smiled for the first time during his testimony, "Yu..Yugi wa..want A..'Ami for da..daddy."

Almost every heart in the courtroom was breaking over the small boys testimony, but then everyone smiled when they saw the look of happiness come over the boys features as he said that simple sentence.

"Good job, Yugi," said Mr. Larson smiling, "I have no further questions."

Yugi tensed up noticeably when his father's lawyer approached him and squeezed tighter on Yami's hand.

"Yugi, living with your father really wasn't as bad as you said it was, was it?" Hirishimo asked, "I mean you had a warm bed, a roof over your head and meals on the table."

"Yu..Yugi no have b..bed, Yu..Yugi have p..pile of r..rags. And if b..bad, Yu..Yugi no e..eat." he whispered, he tried to move closer to Yami but the walls of the box prevented him from getting as close as he wanted to. The judge saw how uncomfortable the frightened child was and gently tapped his shoulder. Yugi jumped and glanced at the judge nervously.

"Do you want to take a break?" he asked

Yugi looked away and buried his face in Yami's shirt again before he whispered, "Yu..Yugi want 'ami."

The judge saw how scared and emotionally drained the poor child was, "I think that's enough questions," he replied, "this poor boy has been through a lot and I think he needs a break."

"But Your Honor," Mr. Hirishimo complained, "I wasn't finished with my questions yet."

The judge looked at the small boy again, "Are you alright to continue?"

Once Yami got his attention, Yugi looked back at the judge and whispered, "Yu..Yugi just wa..want to go ho..home."

"I'm sorry Mr. Hirishimo but I think it would be in the best interest of the child to stop with the questions," The judge replied firmly, "Yugi, You're done with the questions."

Yugi nodded and rested his head on Yami's shoulder as he was lifted into Yami's arms. Yami tried to comfort him when he had tears running down his face and was shaking uncontrollably. When it was Yami's turn to take the stand, Yugi refused to let go of him, not even for Bakura when he offered to take him, he just hid his face and wouldn't look at anyone, so the judge allowed him to sit on Yami's lap during his testimony. He wrapped his arms tightly around Yami's waist and kept his face hidden in Yami's shirt the entire time. The jury noticed how scared the small boy was and they all looked at him sadly, then would glare at the father.

"Yami, can you please tell the court about when you first met Yugi and took him home with you?" Mr Larson asked.

"Sure," Yami replied, "When I first met him he refused to look me in the eye, sometimes it took maybe five minutes before he would. Mrs. McGuire had told me that he was punished for looking anyone in the eye."

"Objection," yelled the lawyer, "that can't be used as testimony, that could have just been her own opinion on the matter."

"Actually, its not just her word," Mr. Larson replied, "it's right here in Yugi's chart. Yami please continue."

Yami sighed, "He was also scared of any type of physical contact, he would jump if you tapped him on the shoulder. He also has terrible nightmares. It took a lot to comfort him when he woke up, luckily Mrs. McGuire called me and told me how to handle them. He wouldn't show any kind of emotion or speak a word to anyone, he smiled for the first time when we went to the beach and he didn't start talking until his birthday party when I asked him if he wanted me to be his dad."

"How did he react to your friends at first?" Mr. Larson asked

"He was scared at first, he would hide by me when they came close. It just took him a little longer before he felt comfortable around them," replied Yami, "but now he's fine around them and will now go to any of us if he needs something."

"Okay Yami, I'm done." replied Mr. Larson. The cross examination began.

"Yami what made you decide to adopt the kid in the first place?" Mr. Hirishimo asked.

Yami and his lawyer decided to leave out the real reason this all began. "My house is too big for just one person, and I wanted someone to share my life with." Yami replied confidently.

"How many people are living there now?"

"Including myself there are six of us." Said Yami.

"That's a big jump going from just you to five other people, How long did you know these people before you let them live with you?" The lawyer was trying to make Yami look bad but it wasn't working.

"I have known Bakura and Marik practically my whole life, since I was five years old. I trust them with my life. As for the others, first we got Yugi and then went back and got Ryou and Malik. Both of them were friends of Yugi's while he was at the orphanage." Yami replied.

"But if he was as traumatized as you said he was and scared of human contact, one would think that he wouldn't let anyone get close to him and if they were such good friends, don't you think he would have talked to them?"  
  
"Mrs. McGuire said he wouldn't talk to anyone." Yami replied

"So he talked to you first, but he knew his friends longer than you," the lawyer sneered, "that doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know why he talked to me before he did his friends," Yami stated then he looked down at the small boy trembling in his lap and smiled, "I'm just glad that he started talking and feels more comfortable around people. It took a lot to get him to this point Mr. Hirishimo and I will not give him up without a fight, I promise you that."

"I have no more questions." the lawyer sneered. This was not going well for him at all and he knew it. Yami glared at the man as he gently lifted Yugi up and carried him back to their seats, but he still refused to raise his head, not even when he was surrounded by his friends and family. Yami knew that Yugi wouldn't be comfortable again until he was back at home and safe in his bed.

"I call Mrs. McGuire to the stand." Mr Larson stated.

Once she was sitting and was sworn in, Mr. Larson asked his first question, "How long was Yugi at the orphanage for and what was he like during his stay there?"

"Yugi was in my care for about three years," she replied, "and in my opinion as a social worker, his was one of the worst cases of child abuse I have ever seen. He refused to come out of his room for the first month and when we finally coaxed him out, he refused to look at anyone and he was easily frightened when anyone came too close to him."

"How did you feel about Yami wanting to adopt Yugi?"

"I was unsure at first, only because I was looking out for the child's best interest," she admitted, "but then I got to know Yami better and Yugi seemed happy for the first time in his life. I knew for sure I made the best choice when Yugi came up to me, gave me a hug, and thanked me for bringing Yami to him." She smiled at the memory and waited for the next question.

"I have no more questions, Your Honor." Mr Larson stated.

"Why were you unsure at first?" asked the other lawyer

"Like I said, I was looking out for the child's best interest." Mrs. McGuire replied again.

"Why did you feel at first that Yami wasn't in his best interest?"

"I didn't think he really knew what he was getting into adopting a child like Yugi," she replied, "I wasn't sure if he could handle it."

"What do you mean 'a child like Yugi'?" Mr. Hirishimo asked curiously.

"Taking in a child like that is a huge responsibility," she said, "He required a lot of special attention."

"If you didn't think he could handle it, why did you let him take Yugi?"

"Well, it's a requirement that he come back for a meeting and I knew that Yugi would let me know if he wasn't happy where he was. I talked to him and he wanted to stay where he was."

"How do you know his answer wasn't influenced by Yami?"

"I always talk to the children alone, so they can answer freely and without any influence." she replied annoyed.

"Why did it take three years for him to find a home," Mr. Hirishimo asked suddenly, "was he a troublemaker or something?"

"Nothing like that," Mrs. McGuire responded quickly, "Not many parents wanted a child so traumatized and withdrawn as he was."

"No further questions, Your Honor." the lawyer stated, "Next I call Steven Mouto to the stand."

A whimper could be heard throughout the courtroom when Yugi's father took the stand. The judge looked over at the small boy and saw that he had tears running down his face and Yami just held him tight trying to comfort the boy.

Yami leaned over and whispered to Mr. Larson, "Since we're done with the questions, Can I take Yugi into another room until his father is done?"

Mr Larson looked at the small boy in Yami's arms and could see how frightened he was, he nodded his head and replied, "Sure, I'll come and get you when the jury reaches its verdict."

"Thank you." Yami replied and picked up Yugi. The second Yugi was in his arms, he tightened his grip and hid his face in Yami's shirt as he carried him out of the court room. He went into a small empty room and set the boy gently in his lap. He tried to get Yugi to look at him, but he refused to look up or release his hold on Yami. Yami tried again and finally Yugi looked up.

"It's okay now, Yugi," Yami asked trying to soothe the young boy, "You're safe now."

Yugi looked around the room and seemed to just realize they were not in the courtroom anymore, he sighed and rested his head on Yami's shoulder and whispered, "Yu..Yugi okay now."

Yami smiled and held him close.

Back in the courtroom Bakura and Marik angrily watched at Yugi's father tried to justify the way he treated his son, claiming that Yugi was a disobedient child and the reason he went to the hospital is that he was always hurting himself.

"I never touched my son," Steven yelled angrily, "only when he needed to be disciplined, which was quite often. Don't let that innocent look fool you, he's a very disobedient child who causes nothing but trouble."

"And what kind of discipline did you use?" Mr. Larson asked

"Nothing worse than spanking." replied Steven

"Then why was he sent to the hospital six times in just one year alone?" Mr. Larson asked

"Like I said before, that kid was always hurting himself." Steven repeated himself.

"Well I just happened to have a copy of Yugi's medical record right here in my hands, and the doctors wrote in here that they suspected child abuse the second time he was in the hospital," Mr. Larson said, "It says and I quote: 'Child brought in after taking a fall down the stairs. He was still conscious, but was disoriented from the hit his head took from the fall, and he fractured his leg. He also had cuts and bruises on his body that didn't match what a fall down the stairs would cause, child abuse is suspected."

"They couldn't have suspected too much since they still let me take him home." Mr. Mouto

"They didn't do anything because Yugi wouldn't speak to anyone," Mr. Larson replied, "They asked him but he refused to answer."

"Like I said, he was a disobedient child and needed to be disciplined." Steven replied angrily

"Disciplined you say, well then why was he sent to the emergency room for burns all over his body?"

"He was a klutzy kid," replied Steven, "he was always hurting himself. He was cooking dinner and spilt a pan of hot water all over himself and I had to leave work early when I got the call from the hospital stating he was in the emergency room."

"How did he get there if you were working?" Mr. Larson asked curiously.

"A neighbor heard him scream and called the police."

"Well as his father, shouldn't you be supervising him when he was cooking?"

"Like I said, I was at work. He was getting dinner ready so we could eat when I got home. That was one of his chores."

"What other chores did he have?" Mr. Larson asked

"Just normal kids chores: keeping the house clean, cooking dinner, do the laundry. Stuff like that." replied Steven.

"If he did all that, what were your chores?" asked Mr. Larson

"I went to work and got the money to put a roof over his head and food in his stomach." replied Steven.

"But you worked during the day, what did you do after you got off work?" Mr. Larson said curiously.

"I ate dinner and then went to my second job."

"Where was your second job?" asked Mr. Larson, "and who stayed with Yugi while you were gone?"

"He stayed alone, he can take care of himself."

"But if he was as klutzy as you said he was, I would think you would have had someone there incase something happened." replied Mr. Larson, "Where's his mother, if I may ask."

"She was murdered when Yugi was five," Steven replied grimly, "One night when I was at work, someone broke into the house and murdered her right in front of the boy. He was really traumatized after that."

"Then why did you leave him home alone?" asked Mr. Larson, he was starting to get angry, "If he was that traumatized, you should have had someone stay with him at night."

"I tried, no one would stay with him,"

"And why's that?"

"He was a very disobedient child," said the annoyed father, "I went through many babysitters and some of them even left before I got home because they couldn't handle him."

"If he was such a disobedient child, why after all these years, why are you seeking custody now?" Mr. Larson asked

"He may be disobedient but he's still my child. It took me years to track him down, no one would tell me where he was sent." Steven replied, "And when I finally did find him, he was sent to a different place. Now I found him again only to find out that someone wants to adopt him when I never gave up custody or told anyone he was available for adoption. He is still my son legally and I want him back now."

"You lost your rights as his father when they took him away from you and child abuse charges were filed against you, and that makes him available for adoption," replied Mr. Larson, "I have no further questions."

"Mr. Mouto," Mr. Hirishimo said, "Describe the ways that Yugi was disobedient."

"He would constantly talk back," the father replied, "He even tried to hit me on quite a few occasions."

"And how did you react to the situation?" Mr. Hirishimo asked

"I spanked him and sent him to his room without dinner." replied Mr. Mouto

"When did his bad behavior start?" asked the lawyer

"Shortly after his mother died." came the quiet reply

"Did you have him taken in for an evaluation?"

"Yea, I did. They just told me he was severely traumatized and to be patient with him." replied the father angrily, "and to try and make him feel as safe as possible."

"And did you do what the doctor told you to do?"

"I tried but he didn't want anything to do with me," Mr. Mouto replied, "he would flinch away and start screaming for his mother."

"Thank you, I have no further questions Your Honor." replied Mr. Hirishimo before taking his seat again.

The judge nodded and turned to the jury, "You have heard the testimony from both sides, I will now excuse you while you come up with your verdict."

The jury left the box and went into a small room to discuss what they heard. When they left, Bakura went to try and find Yami. When he entered the room, he was saddened to see that Yugi still had a tight grip on Yami and still refused to look at anyone. Yami looked up when he heard the door open and smiled sadly at his longtime friend.

"How is he?" Bakura asked worriedly

"He's still really upset," Yami replied sadly, "He won't even look at me."

"It's a good thing you left the courtroom, Yugi definitely didn't need to hear some of the things that were said in there." replied Bakura

"What kind of things?" Yami asked curiously. Bakura proceeded to tell Yami what had occurred in the courtroom, but at the part of Yugi's mother's death, he stopped.

"There's something your not telling me, now what is it?" Yami asked worriedly

"Yugi's mother was murdered right in front of him, and his father said it really traumatized him."

Yami was shocked and tightened his grip on the small boy.

"Poor Yugi," Yami said softly, "he's been through so much and is finally starting to recover and now this happens, his lowlife father comes back into his life."

"I know," agreed Bakura, "I came to find you because the jury is now deliberating and will return with the verdict, and with what I heard from the testimony, I don't think there's going to be a problem with you getting full and permanent custody."

"I hope your right Bakura," Yami replied softly, "I care about him so much, I can't stand the thought of losing him."

Bakura walked over to his friend and put an arm around his shoulder, "Don't worry Yami, I can't see them taking Yugi from you. You should have seen the jurys' faces when you and Yugi testified, Their hearts were breaking when Yugi was telling his story. Now come on, lets go and see if the jury reached their verdict yet."

"Alright, lets go back now." Yami replied as he gently lifted Yugi off his lap and held him securely in his arms. Yugi whimpered when he felt himself being lifted, but calmed down when he felt Yami wrap his arms tightly around him. He snuggled closer, but still refused to look at anyone, the memories that came flooding back to his mind had frightened him and he wasn't ready to face anyone yet. He just wanted to be held and feel safe and secure again, a feeling he only got when he was close to Yami.

When Yami re-entered the courtroom, all his friends gave him sad looks as they saw that Yugi was still hiding from everyone. A few minutes after Yami had sat down, the jury returned with their verdict and everyone tensed waiting for the results.

"Jury," The judge said, "What is your verdict?"

"We the jury, find that in the best interest of Yugi Mouto that full custody will be awarded to..........


	6. The Jury Decides

1

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugi or any of the characters

The Jury decides

The court room was totally quiet, Everyone leaned forward in their seats and held their breath anxiously awaiting the Jury's decision. Yami held onto Yugi tightly and Bakura put his hand on his shoulder to show his support.

"We the jury, find that in the best interest of Yugi Mouto that full custody will be awarded to Mr. Yami Moto." A tremendous cheer came from Yugi's side of the court room. Everyone stood and cheered on the new family. Two guards walked over and secured Mr. Mouto's arms as he growled over the verdict. Yami stood up with Yugi in his arms, he squeezed the boy in a tight hug laughing and crying at the same time. Yugi looked up when he felt the wet tears hit his face and looked at Yami curiously.

When Yami noticed that Yugi finally was watching him, He told the young boy what happened, "Yugi you never have to see that man again. You get to live with me forever."

Yugi wrapped his arms tightly around Yami and started crying, but this time they were tears of joy. He nuzzled in the crook of Yami's neck and tightened his grip even more.

He whispered in Yami's ear, "Th..thank you 'ami." over and over again. Yami smiled, he just held Yugi tighter to show how much he cared for the small boy. When Yugi looked up at him Yami said, "Let's go home Yugi." Yugi returned the smile and nestled into Yami's chest once again.

Bakura and Marik went over to them and put their hand on Yami's shoulder, when he looked at them they smiled and patted Yugi on the back. Then he replied to them, "Guys? Tonight is a celebration, anything you guys want to do, It's your night."

Malik and Ryou walked up to their friend and tapped his shoulder, when he looked at them, Ryou pulled him into a hug along with Malik. Yugi smiled at his friends and returned the hug.

Their loving moment was suddenly interrupted when a loud noise was heard from behind them and before anyone could react, Yugi's father had broken away from the guards and pulled Yugi out of Yami's arms and held a gun to the small boys head. Yugi whimpered and started to cry, his father hit him in the head with the butt end of the gun, but that only made him cry harder.

"SHUT UP YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING BRAT!" He yelled even though he knew Yugi couldn't hear him. He hit Yugi again, this time punching him in the stomach. Yami was furious and tried desperately to think of a way to help Yugi.

"I'm not leaving without my son, make any sudden moves and the kid gets it." He sneered.

Yami was mad but he couldn't risk Yugi getting hurt if he tried anything. So he just growled at the man as he started for the exit. Off to the side, a security officer saw what was happening and tried to help the small boy. She quickly jumped on the man as he neared the exit and struggled to get the gun away from him, in the commotion the gun went off and Yugi slumped to the ground. The security officer took advantage of the gun mans confusion and got him on the ground and in cuffs. Yami immediately ran to Yugi's unmoving body on the ground. He carefully turned Yugi over and saw that he was shot in the lower back and the bullet came out his front side. He also noticed that Yugi was bleeding from his head where his father had hit him with the gun. Yami quickly removed his jacket and placed it gently under Yugi's head then he took off his shirt and held it to the bullet wound to slow down the bleeding. He turned around and saw that Bakura was already on the phone with the ambulance, and Marik was trying to calm down Ryou and Malik.

After what felt like an eternity the ambulance finally arrived. They loaded Yugi onto a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance. They told Yami only family members were allowed and Yami insisted, "He's my son, I just adopted him." He said frantically. The paramedics agreed to let him come them they quickly drove off to the hospital. Yami held onto Yugi's hand the entire trip but had to let go when they wheeled him into the Emergency Room.

Thirty minutes after they took Yugi away, Bakura and the rest showed up at the hospital. Bakura ran up to Yami, "How's Yugi? Any word yet?" He asked frantically. Yami just shook his head sadly.

"No, no one has come out of there since they wheeled Yugi in." Yami explained as a tear rolled down his face. Bakura put his hand on Yami's shoulder to comfort his friend. Ryou and Malik walked up and embrace Yami in a hug and rubbed his back soothingly. He smiled at all his friends.

About an hour later the doctor came out of the E.R and walked over to the group. "Yami Moto?" He asked. Yami nodded and stood up.

"We were finally able to get Yugi stable. He lost a lot of blood though so we are doing a blood transfusion. The bullet went clean through and luckily it didn't hit a vital organ, so we were able to patch that up nicely. I am concerned with the hit he received to his head though. It appears that he was hit near the temple and that's a delicate spot. Unfortunately, he is still unconscious right now so we won't know anything else until he wakes up."

Yami paled at the doctors words, "Can I see him?" He said quietly.

The doctor nodded his head and told Yami where the room was. Yami walked back to his friends and looked at Bakura, "Why don't you guys take them home, you guys look exhausted. I want to stay with Yugi until he wakes up, I'll call you tomorrow morning."

Bakura was about to say no, but the look in Yami's eyes told him not to. Yami was deeply hurt by what had happened and he wanted to be near Yugi. He felt terrible that he didn't do anything to help the young boy back in the courtroom, and he wanted to be there for him now.

Bakura nodded his head and picked up Ryou, Marik gently grabbed Malik's hand and they left the hospital. Yami headed in the direction that would lead him to Yugi's room.

Yami reached for the door handle and his hand froze. 'I don't know if I can stand seeing him like this,' He thought, 'especially when I did nothing to stop it.' Yami hung his head in shame he opened the door and looked inside. The room was dimly lit and the beeping of machines was heard. Yami walked into the room and closed the door. Yugi looked so small on the huge bed surrounded in blankets. Yugi had a large gauze bandage wrapped around his head, and through the thin hospital gown he could see another bandage wrapped around his middle. Yami chocked back a sob at the sight in front of him. He pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed. He grabbed Yugi's hand and held it gently, rubbing his finger up and down along the smooth surface.

Yami didn't realize he had fallen asleep until he felt someone shake his shoulder, he slowly rose up off the bed and looked up. A nurse was standing there watching him sadly.

"I'm afraid that visiting hours are over now." She said softly.

Yami shook his head, "No, this is my adopted son. I want to be here when he wakes up."

The nurse nodded sympathetically and then said, "I'm not supposed to do this but no one will be in here after I check his vital signs, so I will just pretend that I didn't see you." She winked at Yami and proceeded to check Yugi's vitals. The she went into the closet and grabbed an extra blanket, she handed it to Yami and said goodnight. Yami said thank you then returned his gaze back to Yugi.

The next time Yami awoke the sun was shining into the room and right in his eyes, he grumbled and sat up, wincing at the pain in his back from sleeping leaning over the bed. He glanced up at Yugi and sadly noticed no changes from the night before.

Yami got up and stretched. Then he was about to pick up the phone to call Bakura when a soft moan was heard. Yami quickly set the phone down and sat on the edge of Yugi's bed. He gently held Yugi's hand and waited for him to wake up. Very slowly Yugi opened his eyes and blinked a few times to focus his vision. Yami reached out and gently tapped Yugi's shoulder, Yugi was scared at first but calmed down immediately when he saw it was Yami.

"Yugi! Thank Ra your okay." Yami exclaimed, "How are you feeling?"

"Yu..Yugi head hu..hurt." Yugi whispered, "Yugi s..side h..hurt." Yami could see the tears beginning to form in Yugi's eyes, he lifted Yugi up and gently embraced him letting Yugi cry on his shoulder.

The nurse walked in and was happy to see Yugi awake, she slowly walked up to him and Yami.

"How are we doing today?" She asked quietly. Yugi looked away and tried to hide in Yami's shirt. Yami tried to coax him to talk but it wasn't working, Yugi would just cry harder and tighten his grip on Yami.

"He told me his head and side hurt." Yami answered for Yugi. She smiled knowingly and left the room briefly. When she returned she had some pain medication for Yugi. Yami once again tried to coax Yugi to respond but he knew that Yugi wouldn't until they were alone. The nurse understood and left the room.

After a few more minutes Yami was finally able to coax Yugi to respond to him and uncover his face. Yami handed him the pills and told him to take them. Yugi did as he was told then laid back down on the bed. When Yugi was asleep again, Yami left the room in search of a doctor. The doctor completed his exam on Yugi and then told Yami his findings.

"He is a very lucky boy," The doctor explained, "If he had been hit any harder it would of affected his sight as well. I need to keep him for one more night for observation, and then when he goes home I want you to call me immediately if he starts complaining of headaches or vision problems."

Yami nodded his head, since Yugi was still asleep he decided to call Bakura and let him know what was going on.

Finally, the next day, Yugi was released and allowed to go home, but he was still on bed rest. Yami carried Yugi out of the car and walked into the house. He went into the living room and saw a banner from the ceiling 'WELCOME HOME YUGI' it said in big letters. Yugi's eyes filled with tears of joy as he saw all the decorations all around. Then Bakura and the others came out of the kitchen.

"Welcome Back Yugi!" They said at the same time.

Yami sat on the couch with Yugi sitting sideways in his lap. Yugi reached behind him and hugged Yami, "Th..thank you, 'ami." He whispered, "Y..you ma..made Yugi ha..happy, Yu..Yugi have 'ami for da..daddy." Yami returned the embrace and then they joined the others in celebrating the new additions to their family. They welcomed Yugi, Ryou and Malik into their lives and into their hearts.

The End

I hope you liked it. Thanks again for all your reviews, I love reading what you guys think of my stories.


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